Velvet in Moscow
by hominnaltales
Summary: Both of them are looking to fulfill some kind of purpose in life. Both of them want to keep people safe. But most importantly they both haven't had the best experience when it comes to a relationship. Hopefully they can help each other out with at least one of those.
1. Velvet's Start

**This first Chapter is just a small introduction I've created for the rest of the Story. Seeing as one of my favorite video games is Metro Last Light, and my favorite Anime happens to be RWBY, I thought I'd make a Crossover of them. **

**More specifically I wanted to put my favorite character, this being Velvet, in the Metro universe. This will hopefully take place across all three of the Metro games. All the extra content I'll have to think about. **

**I don't hold ownership over Metro nor do I own anything to do with RWBY. The only thing I take ownership over are the few OC's you'll occasionally see. They rest is of course owned by Rooster Teeth and Deep Silver. **

**Please feel free to leave me your a Review so I know what you think so far. All opinions are valued positive or negative. You could also Follow so you'll know when I create a Chapter. Have yourself a nice day.**

**Chapter 1: Velvet's Start.**

Velvet didn't stop running. She had to keep running. Keep running as fast as her legs could possibly carry her. Not only was she in a completely different location from where she went to bed. She was also completely defenseless and being chased by what could only be described as beings that were made of noting but pure shadows. Or some kind of shadow men you could say.

Whatever they were called they had been chasing the Faunus for what felt like an entire hour now. It did to Velvet anyway. From how it was chasing her, she knew that the creature would show no mercy if it caught up to her. This only inspired her to somehow manage to run even faster than she thought was physically possible.

She refused to take a single second to examine any of her newfound surroundings. The only thing she could hope for was that before she died from all the running she would reach some level of safety. And if not hopefully the creatures would give her a quick and painless death.

As luck would have it the shadow men seemed to stop chasing her,and Velvet could now only hear the sounds of her own footsteps. She sighed with a great amount of relief. Never in her life had she ever been forced to run so fast in order to survive.

Whatever those things were, they really seemed as though their lives depended on catching Velvet. She knew it wasn't any kind of Grimm. And if it was it certainly wasn't any type that she was familiarly with. She'd have to report what she saw to Ozpin. But for now she was cold and still on edge.

Velvet began to think that she had just found herself in another on of her nightmares. That maybe she'll wake up any second now in her own bed. She was greatly mistaken. She was still in the real world. Just not the one she was used to.

From the look of things wherever in the Hell she was Velvet was able to determine that she was most likely in some type of tunnel. More specifically it seemed to be an entire network of tunnels. Possibly some kind of old an abandoned underground train station.

With there only being two directions for her to travel in, one of which would only bring her straight back into the arms of the creatures that she had encountered, Velvet opted to walk in the only other remaining direction.

There were a few small lights that were flickering across the tunnel. Though their size was small they were able to help guide Velvet and keep her from falling down. She hoped that they would take her to a place a little less scary. And if it was somehow possible maybe even a little less dark.

But even if there was such a place in this terrifying new world she wasn't going to be able to reach it in time. After walking for almost another entire hour she was forced to stop dead in her tracks to avoid collapsing dead.

She began to cough and groan quite a bit. Her legs were tired and bruised from all of the times she fell down. Worst of all she was beginning to become even more dehydrated than ever before. She took a few minutes to rub her eyes.

At this point of not even being able to walk anymore, Velvet was forced to sit herself down on the cold and uncomfortable floor. She was now on the verge of passing out. Hopefully if she did she would eventually wake up.

She did try her best to avoid the forced sleep. But in no time at all the darkness found its way to her. She was now fully unconscious and more defenseless than ever. Whatever was chasing her would now have an easy target.

''What in the world are we looking at? Have we stumbled upon yet another type of undiscovered Mutant?" One of the Russian Soldiers asked his partner who was just as shocked at the sight as his friend.

His partner, who wished he had his portable camera so he could take a few pictures to show his children, replied before kneeling down to get a closer look at the girl in front of him. ''She has to be, right? Those are real ears, I'm sure of it.''

''If we're right and she is a Mutant I've never seen anything like her before. I mean look at her, she has actual bunny ears? After all of the shit that I've seen in this life I can firmly state that God has a very messed up sense of humor.''

One of the Soldiers placed two of his fingers on Velvet's left wrist. Despite the answer being an obvious one he wanted to know if she managed to stay alive. He was surprised to discover that she was still alive but certainly not well.

''Alright it looks like she manged to stay alive. But it looks like her breathing is a little off. It's either another effect of being a Mutant or she had to outrun something.'' The man said as a quick announcement. He then raised his Bastard's gun and pointed it at the young lady's head.

The other man slapped the weapon out of his partner's hand before he could pull the trigger. He began to question his drastic action. ''What in God's name do you think you're doing? You weren't really planning on pulling the trigger were you?''

''What? As you can see, she's just another Mutant we have to kill. Do you ever consider not shooting when you see any of the Nosalis in the tunnels? No, you do your job and send them all straight to the land of Hell. Or have you just gone soft on them all of a sudden.''

''I'm just saying that she's clearly not a threat to anyone. By the looks of her, she must have ran and passed out from using up all her energy. That is by far the worst way to die down here, being devoured in your sleep. A few years ago it happened to my little brother.''

''I can't say I really care how the hell she got here. What I care about is what people are going to think of us when we bring in a girl with actual bunny ears. Don't you think that it will be just a little bit difficult to explain to everyone? People aren't very found of things they don't understand. What do you think started the war?''

''What would you propose we do then? Should we just leave her here to be slaughtered? Just look at her, could you do that? It wouldn't even take one of those Mutants to rip her into pieces. Add on the fact that it's the right thing to do, and you know it.''

The man sighed. ''You want to bring your new girlfriend with us, Arlo? Go right ahead, I'm not going to try and stop you. But if any trouble gets started over this, and I do mean any trouble at all, it is on you, not me. Now get a move on. Today is hopefully the day Hunter makes his grand return. Don't want to miss that glorious bastard.''

After carefully picking up Velvet, Arlo commented on the way his friend viewed Hunter. ''I'm starting to get the idea that you wish to get very close with Hunter.'' He said, making his comrade's eyes widen and also causing him to frown. ''Maybe even closer than close.''


	2. The Start of Something Crazy

**A/N: I've got high hopes for the future. I like to think that this Story will really take off. Also I would really appreciate it if you guys would leave me a Review. I'd love to know what all of you think of my Story so far. **

**It would also be wise of you to Follow so you'll be notified when I release any new Chapters. And of course you could grant me the spectacular honor of adding this Story to your Favorites. Have yourself a wonderful day.**

**Chapter 2: The Start of Something Crazy.**

Artyom continued to write down any of the information that he deemed exciting or important in his journal. Currently he sat down in a small wooden chair located in the corner of his room. It was cramped but that was how he liked it.

What he was writing down was the same thing that he would always write down. Parts from whatever Stories he had heard from Hunter when he returned from the surface. As well as the many boring things that happened to him inside his home Station.

In fact everything that happened inside the Station he only seemed to deem as boring. He would just love a chance to prove himself by becoming a Stalker and joining Hunter in all of his travels up on the surface. It would hopefully give his Stepfather something to be proud of.

While he was writing down anything that happen to come to mind, Artyom was also flickering his lighter on and off. He would never stop missing having full access to cigarettes. While he was in the middle of examining one of his postcards he took notice that his Stepfather had walked in.

Quickly standing up from his seat as he was supposed to, Artyom greeted the man who had rescued him when he was just a child. The man who was the closest thing he had left to any kind of parent. ''Hello, Uncle Sasha, it is great to see you. You're looking well.''

Alex, who patted Artyom on the shoulder, replied to his Stepson. ''You as well, Artyom. I have some great news to tell you, and I'm sure you'll be glad to hear it. We believe that Hunter has finally returned from the surface. He most likely has more important news from some of the other Stations. Come on, I hear he might even have something special just for you.''

Upon hearing this great information, Artyom quickly put his diary aside. He acted the same when he got up to follow his Stepfather. But of course he had to take his lighter. Which prompted Alex to say in a very stern tone. ''What have I told you about smoking all the time, Artyom? One day it will destroy your lungs if you continue to not be careful.''

''You know that a lighter has more than one use besides just lighting cigarettes.'' Artyom said with a few chuckles. ''There are quite a large amount of cobwebs around here. I don't know if you've noticed that or not. We should really get to cleaning this place up one day.''

After Alex joined him in letting out a few laughs, the two began to walk through the parts of the Station. Not long after they started, a man outfitted in a medical uniform approached both Alex and Artyom. ''Alex, there's a few things I really need to talk about with you.''

Once more stopped in his tracks, Alex just made a fairly casual response. ''Nikolay, what exactly is so important that it can't wait until after we've congratulated Hunter on his return? There better be another war, otherwise I don't want to hear it.''

''It's all of the aggressive attacks that have been occurring nonstop over the past few Weeks.'' Nikolay said, a little bit of fear in his voice. ''The Station can't handle anymore of this. If we don't take action and do something soon,I have no doubt that we will all die.''

Reassuring his friend of their safety, Alex gently patted him on the back. ''I keep telling you over and over that there is nothing more that we can do for the time being. Now, is that all you have for me? Or can me and Artyom finally be on our way?''

''No, I think that's it. Well actually, there is one more thing that I should tell you. Two of our men recently came back from their watch. Now, I know that this is going to sound strange but it is the truth. They apparently came back with a girl who has bunny ears.''

Alex turned back to his Stepson and laughed. ''Now do you see what I have to deal with everyday, Artyom? Just a bunch of crazy made up shit like that.'' Alex turned back to Nikolay and in a very strict voice gave him new orders. ''Find out who they really brought back then report back to me. You're dismissed, Nikolay.''

With Nikolay now gone Artyom and Alex resumed their walking once more. A little further to their destination, Alex felt the need to point something out. ''It's been quite some time since Hunter has returned back to our home. I'm positive that he has some good news for us this time.''

Artyom responded in a very sarcastic tone. ''God knows that we could use even the slightest bit of good news right about now.'' Alex agreed with him entirely. Morale was now at an all time low. If that didn't change soon the Station could be looking at possible mutinies.

''Well hello there, Artyom.'' One nearby man greeted him. Both Alex and Artyom stopped to see what the man wanted. Artyom sighed and told Alex to go on without with. ''You can go ahead. I'll try to catch up to you as soon as possible.'' Alex let out a sigh of his own then nodded and continued to walk on.

Upon seeing that he was no available, the man resumed his conversation with Artyom. ''Did you also hear the news last night? Yet another one of our patrols was attacked not too long ago. There's no more room in the hospital. It's completely filled with the dying or sick.''

As a quick response in order to save valuable time, Artyom acknowledged that he had already been given the grave report. ''Of course I heard. All of the Mutants are getting closer and closer as they days go by. They even seem to be getting smarter as well. My guess is they can smell all of the blood from the hospital.''

After thinking things over the man sighed. He was going to have to check on his brother later who was caught in one of the more recent attacks. The man gestured his hand towards Artyom. A few seconds passed without it being shaken. In order to leave the now awkward situation the man just said his goodbyes. ''Well... anyway it was good talking to you, Artyom.''

Now being free from the annoying inhabitants of the Station, Artyom quickly ran forward to catch up with Alex. Luckily for him Alex had decided to wait for him by the door. Now that his son was here Alex was able to knock on the hospital door and demand entry.

''We're not allowing any visitors today. Please come back at another time that is more convenient.'' A voice on the other side of the door said. ''If you're in need of any kind of medical attention you'll have to join the line situated right behind you.

''Come on, Petr.'' Alex said in a very cheerful voice as though he was receiving a gift. Seeing as Hunter was coming back the voice kind of made sense. ''It's me and Artyom. I suggest you let both of us in before I take it up with your superiors. Oh wait a minute, I am your superior.''

Not wanting to lose his job, Petr quickly swung the door open. ''I'm so sorry I didn't know it was you, Alex otherwise I would have opened it right away. Come on in, Alex.'' Petr spotted Artyom and gave him a separate greeting. ''Ah, hello to you as well, Artyom. It's great seeing you too.'' Artyom gave him a fake smile and a small nod in response. ''Petr.''

If there was was one thing that Artyom hated more than anything else it was the stench of the Hospital. It smelled like nothing other than death and sickness. But what he hated even more than that was the overwhelming sound of people screaming.

Alex asked one of the Doctors for an update on the amount of injured they would have to deal with. ''How are you doing with the wounded? Do you have enough supplies to treat them all? Or should I try to put in a request for medical supplies?''

The Doctor, who looked as though he wasn't having the best of days, sighed then responded. ''There hasn't been too much improvement. Two of them died just this morning. Come back later and that number will have only increased. The Dark Ones don't kill their victims outright. Instead they seem to damage the mind of the victim. No mater what it will kill them sooner or later.''

Remembering what information he had simply dismissed as nonsense, Alex asked the Doctor if they had any recent uninvited guests. ''Nikolay told us about a girl who apparently has bunny ears. Please don't tell me that he was telling the truth?''

The Doctor began to chuckle quite a bit before answering. ''I'm afraid that he was. And before you ask no I don't have an explanation for it. Not that I even want to know why she has the ears. If you'd like to you can talk to her after she wakes up? Shouldn't be too much longer now.''

The fact that Nikolay was telling the truth and there really was a Mutant in their Station greatly concerned Alex. As soon as his business with Hunter was over he'd go see her for himself immediately.''I'll see to it as soon as possible. I appreciate the update.''

Artyom nearly vomited at the sight of one of the nearby corpses. The victim's body had its head missing and most of his skin was burned off. Artyom wondered what could have happened to him. Alex seeing this acted quickly and began to guide Artyom out of the Hospital. They were now where Hunter was expected to arrive shortly.

From the outside of a large metal gate a knocking sound could be heard. One of the closer guards was surprised and jumped at the noise. He pointed his weapon at the gate and began to shout to his comrades. ''We've got something at the door. Someone get over here, will you?''

Alex disarmed the guard before reminding him that they had an expected visitor. ''Who else could it be aside from Hunter? In case you haven't been paying attention Mutants don't have the courtesy to knock first.'' Artyom quietly laughed to himself at the joke.

The gate required two valves to open. Two of the closest guards began to turn the valves and start the very slow process of opening the gate. Once each valve was finally turned the gate was fully open. Standing on the other side was none other than Hunter.

One guard saluted him, even though it wasn't an entirely necessary sign of respect, then gave him a proper welcome back to his home. ''Welcome back home, Hunter. I apologize for the wait, apparently some of us believed you to be a Mutant.''

Hunter laughed at the idea that a Mutant could learn to knock. ''Don't worry about it, and thanks. Now do me a favor by closing your gate. A few of the Mutants I tangled with might have followed me all the way back here. They looked pretty hungry so if I were you I'd hurry.'' The men began to close the gate as fast as they possibly could.

Alex then moved his way past the guard so he could greet Hunter. The two of them immediately shook each other's hand upon making eye contact. ''Hunter, how have you been out there on the surface? It's been quite a long time, has it not? Did you finally get yourself a wife out there?''

Hunter started to laugh which caused Alex to do the same. ''It sure has been, Alex. It sure has been.'' Hunter turned his attention towards an excited looking Artyom. ''Great to see you too, Artyom.'' Artyom smiles and nodded in response. ''Ah, you're still a quiet one I see.''

Alex asked Hunter about the state of the outside world. It wasn't exactly a necessary question. No one was really expecting for the surface to just magically heal itself. ''So Hunter, what has been happening out there in the real world these days?''

''Not all that much actually. Most of what I hear is just things that we already know. Shit about the Exhibition and the supposed creatures made out of the dark that have infested your tunnels.'' Both Alex and Hunter sat down while a nearby kettle began to boil.

Reaching into one of his pockets, Hunter gestured something towards Artyom. ''Oh Artyom, before I accidentally forget. While I was out there I met this small trader who was selling a few old Postcards of New York City. I purchased one of them after remembering your wall.''

Hunter handed Artyom the postcard in a very careful way seeing as it wasn't in the best of conditions. But despite that after Artyom examined it he gave a very thankful reply. ''Thank you for this, Hunter. I'll be sure to take good care of it.''

Turning around back to face Alex, Hunter was given a rundown on the situation at the Station. ''These new Mutants or whatever the heck they are. They are something that we've never seen before. Something far worse than anything we've ever had to face before.''

Hunter reminded him of the name given to the mysterious creatures. ''Dark One's. Or whatever mystical name people have decided to give them. You know my order has a motto that each of us always follows by heart. If it's hostile you kill it. Remember Artyom, that's a rule you must always follow if you are to survive.''

Before Alex could continue the conversation any further and scold Hunter's suggestion, a voice began to echo over the intercoms. ''We have an intruder alert. Mutants have been in the main ventilation shafts. Get ready, they're going to be coming in from right above you.''

One of the guards muttered, ''Shit. This is just what I needed today. Glad to know that God is still looking out for his last favorite sons. I swear when I die I'm going to choke that bastard to death for all of the shit he's put each and everyone one of us through.''

Another one of the guards wasn't in a very calm state ''But there are so many wounded here. Oh no, think of everyone in the Hospital. My son is still in there. They'll have no way to fight off the Mutants. To add onto that I'm sure most of them have little to no combat experience. They'll all be massacred within seconds.''

Alex began to hand out instructions to some of the other men. ''Alright, I need everyone to focus. Kiril I need you to take your group back to the tunnels. When you make your way there contact me so that Hunter and I will be able to provide you with...''

Hunter decided that he would have to cut Alex off and give everyone better advice. ''I'm afraid that is not an option given our current situation, Alex. We must all stay here and defend the hall no matter the cost. Artyom, you need to find a weapon and quickly.''

Seeing his Stepfather open a very small weapons locker and grabbing one of two weapons inside of it, Artyom took the only other weapon that remained in the locker. It was a small Revolver that didn't look to effective but seeing as he had no other option he quickly cocked it back.

Alex began to curse in a fit of rage. ''Ah, dammit all to Hell. They have never reached this far in the Station before. They must be getting some really funny ideas to even attempt such an attack. Well that's fine nothing a few more bullets can't fix right away.''

''Think about it will you?'' Hunter said as though the reason for an attack was obvious. ''It's the Hospital they're going to they can probably smell all of that fresh and delicious blood. They don't want to waste another second to arrive and viciously slaughter all of these good people. Unless of course you have a better theory?''

Before another theory could be devised the loud and intimidating alarm sounded off. Following it was the unmistakable and terrifying loud screams of Mutants. It did more than just put Artyom and a few of the others on edge. It scared a lot of them. In fact it scared them all quite a bit.

From the center of the room one of the vents suddenly busted open. Out of it dropped several of the Watchers. Just their stature alone was enough to make a few of the men want to retreat in terror. The beasts didn't waste anytime starting the attack that they had been planning for so long.

Seeing some of the Watchers charge at him with the look of hunger in their eyes, Artyom began to rapidly open fire upon the mutants with his new Revolver. The small weapon wasn't very powerful against the hulking beasts. But there were no other option for attacking.

One of them managed to get a well placed swipe on Artyom chest. But the young Russian managed to counter the attack by shooting the beast directly in its left eye. In fact he was so pissed about his now bloody clothes that he wasted several more bullets on the dead Mutant.

For the remainder of the battle Artyom went through what felt like hundreds of his bullets. Though that amount would be greatly impressive if it was true. After firing off what little remained of his ammunition he dropped his Revolver to the ground.

Seeing this display of stupidity, Hunter picked it up and handed it back to Artyom. He gave him some great advice. ''Don't you ever think of leaving a weapon behind again, Artyom. Not only does it give your enemies a chance to take it away from you, but you also never know when it might come in handy.''

After checking on the other men that managed to survive, Alex checked on his Stepson's health. ''Artyom, are you sure you're alright? I'm so sorry that I dragged you here. It would've been better if I had just left you in your room. We could've taken care of this on our own.''

Hunter decided to respond for Artyom himself. ''Of course he's alright old man. Dead eye shot, this one is. Now that was some good shooting Artyom. I'd say you even made me a little proud. But why were there no Dark One's here?''

Alex said to Hunter. ''Even when we can't see them. The Dark Ones are there. They use fear as their choice of weapon. That's how they made the mutants attack us. These Dark Ones, they're not mutants. They're something greater. The next step Evolution. You've heard about ''Survival of the fittest''? Well guess what? We lost.''

Hunter thought that was the dumbest thing he had ever heard. ''You can't be serious, Alex?! If you wan't to give up you can go right ahead. But I'm hanging on to whatever life I have left. And I'll take those Dark Ones to Hell with me!''

But before the argument could continue further, a man quickly rushed through the door. After trying to quickly catch his breath, he shouted. ''It's the Dark Ones they've just destroyed the outer guard post. We need support now.''

Only sharing nothing more than a quick look of fear without hesitation Hunter and Alex rushed through the door. Artyom, not even having a few seconds to reload his weapon, quickly followed them as well.


	3. Introductions

**A/N: We passed upon the stair. We spoke of was and when. Although I wasn't there. He said I was his friend. Which came as a surprise. I though you died alone, A long long time ago. Oh no, not me. We never lost control. You're face to face, With the Man who sold the World.**

**Alright for those of you who haven't played the Phantom Pain that wasn't a very obvious reference. The whole joke is Velvet is waking up in a Hospital just like Big Boss did. Or at least who we're supposed to believe is Snake.**

**Chapter 3: Introductions**

Velvet groaned as she finally came back to consciousness. One of the Hospital's Doctors quickly came to her aid. He didn't expect her to wake up so early. ''Woah, you need to relax for a few minutes. You've been through quite a lot since we found you a few days ago. Nothing quite as serious as the others in the Hospital.''

Pulling out a flashlight, the Doctor shined it into Velvet's eyes. ''Don't worry, in the time I've been a Doctor I've seen injuries much worse than your own. My guess is you should fully recover in maybe a Week or more. Until then I wouldn't get into anymore trouble if I were you. But it's not your fault, I know.''

The Doctor continued to speak to Velvet. ''Now if you could quickly explain just one thing for me we'll be closer to being done, and you can be on your way. What reason do you have for possessing these?'' He was touching one of Velvet's rabbit ears.

She quickly pushed the man's hand back. ''What exactly are you trying to say?'' She said, a little bit offended but mostly just confused. ''Why are you acting as though you've never seen a Faunus like me before? Or do you just hate us so much that you have to pretend we don't exist?''

This time it was the Doctor who looked upon with confusion. ''I don't even know what the Hell a Faunus is. So what, you're some new type of species of Mutants? Must've come from a deeper part of the Metro we've yet to discover. That would be my guess at least.''

Mutant, now that was a word Velvet didn't like in the slightest. ''Mutant? Do you have any idea how offensive that is to us? I'm not like one of those things back in the tunnels that ran up to me like they wanted to eat all of my flesh and bones.''

The Doctor quickly apologized to the girl. ''Oh, well I'm very sorry then. It's just that no one here has ever seen anything like you before. You look human and you even sound human, yet you clearly have some type of genetic Mutation of some kind.''

''I don't have any Mutations.'' Velvet said in a loud voice. ''This is just how I was born, okay? How I will forever look for the rest of my life. There's no possible way for me to change that. Whoever your people are, they should learn to accept that.''

''You're saying that you were born that way?'' The Doctor wrote a few things down in his journal. ''Well, that just leaves me with even more questions to ask. But first I'll give you some easy ones. This first one should be simple enough. What is your name?''

Still not exactly knowing what kind of situation she was in, Velvet thought about using a made up name. She quickly put the bad idea aside, not wanting to start anymore trouble than she had to. ''It's Velvet. You can just call me Velvet.''

''I can't say I've ever heard someone use that name before.'' He said, writing her name down in his journal. ''But in any case, my name is Nikolay. From your accent, I'm guessing you're not from Moscow? Or even from Russia for that matter? Australian I think?''

''I don't even know what in the world Moscow, Australia, or Russia is.'' Velvet couldn't remember any of those places from the geography books she read. ''From how small this room is I'm going to guess we're in some kind of small village?''

''Well, I guess with that I can scratch off at least seven more of my questions... And replace them with new ones. I guess at this point the only thing left for me to do is to ask you where you come from. Would you kindly give me an answer?''

''My guess is you probably won't even be able to find it on any of your maps. But I guess I'll tell you anyway if you really need to know. I live in the Kingdom of Vale. Or I did anyway, before I found myself somewhere in your own home.''

''Well you're right, I don't know where the hell that is. Something tells me you're a little more than just an average foreigner?''

''I don't even know how I got here in the first place. I had just gone to bed, next thing I know I'm waking up in a tunnel being attacked by people made up of nothing except darkness. Part of me still hopes that this is just somehow a really bad dream.''

''Ah, we call those things Dark Ones. You shouldn't worry about them anymore. They can't hurt you as long as you stay here at the Station. Well, that and if they decided to cease their attacks. They were recently able to destroy one of the outer guard posts. So many of our good men killed or driven insane by the voices.''

Standing up from the bed and feeling much better, Velvet asked the man for a little bit of guidance. ''Seeing as I'm able to walk once again, what would you recommend I do now?''

''Alex gave me very clear instructions to bring you to him myself as soon as you awakened. But if you could, would you be willing to follow Artyom here? I still have many patients that require my attention. And please don't go wandering off Some people might be frightened by you.''

Velvet quickly turned around and looked at the heavily armored man whose name was Artyom. Why someone would need so much armour was beyond Velvet's own comprehension. ''Um, yeah okay.'' She said while being a little scared of Artyom's intimidating look. ''I guess you can lead the way then.''

Artyom nodded but didn't say that much. ''Just follow me.'' He then began to guide Velvet to his Stepfather. Along the way she decided to ask him several questions because the awkward silence was slowly beginning to kill her.

''So, can I ask you about this Alex guy?'' She received no answer but continued to ask anyway. ''I'm guessing that he is in charge of this place or at least the one who makes all of the important decisions?''

''That's right, he is.'' Velvet was hoping for a better answer than that.

''Oh, well okay then. Before I came here I was attacked by a couple of those Dark Ones in one of the tunnels. Have they been causing you guys a lot of trouble recently?''

''Yes, more than a little.'' Now Velvet was actually becoming annoyed by the lack of words produced by Artyom.

''Wow, you don't do a whole lot of talking now do you, Artyom?'' Velvet let out a small and quick laugh.

Artyom, who did not find it so funny, stopped walking and simply starred at Velvet. Velvet was a little frightened by what was essentially a half death stare. He answered all the same. ''Only around people I don't trust.'' He then resumed walking. Velvet continued to follow him, only purposely lagging behind a little bit.

She felt the eyes of the Exhibition citizens staring at her. She thought to herself. 'Just when I thought I was done with all of that awful discrimination at Beacon. Guess it follows me even to a place like this.'

A few more turns and both Artyom and Velvet were now at Alex's office. He greeted them both. ''Ah, thank you for bringing her to me Artyom. If you could just wait outside the room. I will have to talk with you next.'' Artyom just nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

Alex then turned his attention towards the new arrival. ''Hello there young lady. I hope that Artyom briefed you on who I am and where you are?''

Velvet replied. ''He sort of did. He doesn't exactly do a whole lot of talking does he?''

Alex laughed. ''You must excuse him, he's not exactly that much of a talker. So don't take it personally. He mostly just writes in that journal of his. But that's enough about Artyom. Could you please tell me your name?''

''My name is Velvet. From the Doctor's reaction I'm guessing you haven't heard that name before either?''

''Hm, can't say I have. But I'm not one to judge simple things like someone's name. As long as you're not a killer, or associated with the Reich or Reds, I have absolutely no problem with you staying here.''

The kindness made Velvet smile. ''That's good to hear. I don't wan't to cause any trouble for people I just met.''

''Good, that's good. Now, I wish to discuss other matters. You've arrived at a bit of a chaotic time. I'm sure you've already heard of these Dark Ones? They've been threatening us for what feels like entire years now. One of their most recent attacks destroyed one of the guard outposts.''

''Yeah, you could say that I known about them. I had to run for my life in those dark tunnels just to get away from them. They were going to kill me!''

''When they attacked you, did you happen to feel anything you would describe as mental or psychological damage? Or any hallucinations? It's really important for me to know even the slightest detail.''

Still only having her headache. Velvet said, ''It was nothing to serious. Just made me pass out from exhaustion, and it hurt my head pretty bad. Can't say there was anything like hallucinations though.''

''Hmm, that's interesting. In time I will have to talk with Nikolay about all that. Now onto my final question. And please don't take any offense to the question. Why is it that you have those rabbit ears?''

She didn't take offense, seeing as all of the people at the station didn't know what a Faunus was. ''I was born with them. I've always had them all my life. It's part of being a Faunus. We're each born with the trait of an animal.''

''I see. Well you must excuse everyone here, we've never heard of the Faunus race before. Perhaps later, we could discuss more on the topic, for now though I'm afraid I must ask you to leave.''

Alex made his way to the door. ''If you will give us just a short moment, I must speak with Artyom alone for a minute?''

Velvet smiled again and nodded. ''Of course, Alex.'' She then left the room. Artyom entered and closed the door behind him. Despite his Stepfather's objectives, Artyom began to smoke a cigarette.

Ignoring it, Alex said. ''Artyom, please take a seat.'' Artyom stood still, preferring to stand. ''Very well then. I heard that you're ready to set off. Remember, this is just a weapons transport caravan. Just protect it until you arrive at its destination. After that I want you to come right back home.''

After only nodding and not even saying goodbye, Artyom went for the door to leave.

''Wait, Artyom. Before you go. I know that you look up to Hunter. But a Ranger's life, it's to dangerous for someone like you. I just wan't you to deliver the cargo then return as soon as possible. Promise me that you won't put yourself in any serious danger?''

Once again Artyom nodded. Only this time he did not receive any interruption when he went for the door to leave. But before he was able to leave, Artyom first made sure to say a few words to his Stepfather. ''Don't worry, I'll be sure to return home in one piece.''

Once on the other side of the door Artyom found Velvet. She apologized for listening in on the private conversation. ''Sorry. You have to understand that it's kind of hard for me not to hear everyone talking around me. I guess you're to be on your way then, huh?''

Artyom pulled out his journal from one of his pockets and flipped it to one of his most recent entries. He decided rather than speaking he'd just hand her the journal so she could read it for herself. He gave her a very basic task. ''Just read it.''

The entry talked of Artyom's true intention when traveling with the Caravan. How he planned on finding a man by the name of Miller and how he hoped to finally rid the world of the Dark Ones. All of that just so he could honor his friend Hunter. She noticed five words written on the bottom of the journal. They said, 'If it's hostile, kill it.'

After finishing the entry, Velvet handed him the journal back. ''You must really hate all of those Dark Ones, huh? That Hunter guy, from the sound of things you really looked up to him. Are you planning on leaving right at this very moment?''

Still not fully trusting her, Artyom only said, ''Yes, I'm leaving right now.'' He then proceeded to start walking away. He hoped that she wouldn't try and follow him, afraid of what she had wanted to ask him. All the same, Velvet still managed to quickly catch up to him.

''Wait a second. I know how weird this is going to sound to you, but I'd really like to help you. From what I've heard these Dark Ones must be the purest form of evil in this place. I'm excellent in combat, and I'd be a great asset to you on your mission.''

Obviously Artyom's original intention was to just say ''No.'' then head straight for the caravan. But after realizing that more people meant more dead Dark Ones, he had a change of heart. To Velvet's surprise, Artyom responded with. ''Alright. But we have to leave right now.''


	4. Chase

**A/N: Glad to see that a good few of you have decided to keep on reading the Story. I'm just leaving this quick message here to encourage you to go even further than Chapter 4. Who knows maybe one day I'll get this Story all the way up to 20 Chapters?**

**Update: So guys we did it.**

**Chapter 4: Chase**

Before Artyom and Velvet could leave with the small weapons caravan they first had to make sure to arm themselves. Upon coming to a small but well stocked weapons stand, Artyom picked up his equipment that his Stepfather had already arranged for him.

The Clerk greeted him in a very friendly tone. ''Ah, if it isn't Artyom. I was expecting you a few minutes ago. Heard you need some weapons for this big mission you have? Well, let me show you everything that you'll need out there in dangers of the Metro.''

He reached down and placed several items on his wooden stand. ''This is what we like to call a Bastard. It uses standard 5.45 Caliber bullets, it has some of the worst accuracy I've ever seen, and it's always overheating like hell. Which is why everyone down here calls it a Bastard, Haha.''

Tossing him the Bastard he gave him one more tip. ''Make sure to use Short bursts if you want to keep your hands. Oh and here, take some Ammo for it. Free of charge seeing as this is a protection job. This is a universal Charger, to keep the battery powered. If you lose this, you're pretty much fucked anywhere with Spiders. Next we have a Gas Mask. If you go into any Hot Spots, or God forbid on the surface. Make sure you always have one of these equipped.''

''Finally, we have the First aid kits. They're military issued so you know they work. Any serious damage you'll want to bandage up. All these do is numb the pain. Though, if you take enough of them you'll get the best high. Okay my friend, you're officially supplied. If you feel the need to try your guns out at the weapon's range, you can go right ahead.''

Artyom said. ''There's no need for me to practice with it. I had plenty of practice when the Nosalis attacked not long after Hunter shortly returned. And don't tell him but Hunter used to secretly bring me out to a bunch of targets he had set up just for me. We practiced for hours.''

Artyom then turned to Velvet, handing her some of the vital equipment. She questioned the supplies. ''I haven't seen anything like this before. I don't mean any offense by this, but don't you guys think that all of this stuff seems to be in the ''Low-Tech'' range.''

Smirking, the Clerk gave her the bad news. ''Whatever kind of fancy laser weapons, and cars that can fly you have where you're from, you won't be able to find any of those things here in Moscow. Besides, this stuff isn't so bad. Well not horrible at least.''

Before Velvet could respond any further to the man Artyom thanked him for the acceptable amount of supplies. ''Thank you for all the equipment. I know we'll need it.'' He then began to leave the room. Velvet quickly grabbed her own things and ran out after him in order to not get separated.

''Hey, wait up for me will you?'' Velvet said, not being so fond of the idea of getting left behind. She feared that at some point in their travels Artyom planned to abandon her and continue the journey to save the Metro on his own. Due to this she'd be sure to stay close to him.

''It shouldn't be that hard for you to keep up with me. You are part rabbit aren't you?'' Artyom said while maintaining his current walking pace. He was also now wearing a smirk. The especially offensive joke made Velvet put on a frown and cross her arms.

Now arriving at the Caravan hand cart both of the future Stalkers came face to face with one of the hand cart's drivers. The driver immediately recognized the son of Alex. ''Ah, good to meet you Artyom. Are you ready to venture out into the unknown?'' The man asked as though he was talking to some child. Despite the tone Artyom just nodded in response. ''Very good, very good. Let's go then shall we?''

He took a seat and then provided his each of his company one as well. ''Alright, Eugine you can have the seat in the back. Hope you'll be ready for anything that comes from behind us.'' The joke managed to make Eugine a little uneasy. ''Artyom you take the seat next to me. Don't worry I'm not a huger.''

Seeing that the joke had absolutely not effects on Artyom's expression Eugine just moved on to the last passenger. ''That means that the last one will got to your...'' Upon catching sight of her ears Boris had to pause. ''Um, could I get your name?''

This time Velvet wasn't offended by someone being surprised at her ears. She now understood that there were no Faunus in this part of the world. ''Oh right, sorry about that. My name is Velvet. I'm guessing that none of you were informed that I was going to be traveling along?''

Boris continued to stare at her ears. He wouldn't dare say anything. The amount of questions he had would take up too much time. ''No I wasn't. But I'm always happy to have an extra hand around to help keep the hand cart moving. You take that last seat then.''

After everyone took their respected seats, Artyom pulled out Hunter's Dog Tags, examining them closely, they remind him of his mission. And how important it was that he didn't fail. Because if he did, the Dark Ones would kill everything.

''My name's Boris by the way. Sorry for the lack of introductions. But anyway, good luck to everyone staying at home, and even more good luck to us.'' Boris then began to pull the cart's lever making it start forward.

Eugine spoke to Artyom. ''Artyom! We're free at last, well forever how long this ride takes anyway. It'll be fun, or dangerous, which if you ask me is even better. I think that we both are overdue for some excitement.'' Artyom let out a small chuckle.

Now further down the tunnel the inhabitants of the hand cart found themselves stopped by several armed guards. One of the guards that used the name Peter stepped forward. He was familiar with Eugine and Peter.

Boris questioned Peter about them being stopped. ''Peter what the heck is going on here? We've got precious supplies with us. A lot of people will be upset if we're even a second late. Now tell me what the holdup is?''

Peter removed his helmet and answered the man who caused him so much annoyance over so many years. ''No reason to be so pushy. It's just some military caravan that managed to get stuck near Alexeyevskaya. I think that it was some kind of tunnel collapse or something along those lines. You're going to have to use the service tunnel in order to bypass it. Otherwise the only option you have is to turn back.''

Boris began to frantically curse at their lack of options. ''Dammit, you know how much I hate that tunnel. If there is really no choice. Peter, go ahead and open up the gate for us. There's no point in us being stuck in here for the rest of our days.''

Eugine questioned Boris as to why he pushed so much hatred towards the tunnel. ''Why all of the negativity? Is there something wrong with the tunnel, Boris? I'm sure that it's nothing we haven't already handled.''

''No, no. It's an ordinary tunnel. Not as well lit maybe. I went through there last month, and, ah I just don't like it is all. After being there for too long, you develop a really bad feeling for the place.''

The men then resumed pushing and pulling the carts lever. Peter said to the passengers. ''You all have a safe trip now.'' Boris responded. ''We're riding a handcar and we're well armed, I'm pretty sure we'll make it there just fine.''

After the cart entered the tunnel, it was consumed by the tunnels darkness. Each man turned on their Torches (Flashlights.) Those who were not pulling the lever, also readied their weapons for what might've been lurking around.

There was a long moment of silence between the occupants of the cart. The only noises came from the movement of the lever. As well as a few smaller noises that only Velvet was able to hear. They didn't sound too bad, so she refrained from pointing them out.

Tired of the quiet, Boris finally broke the long lasting silence. ''Damn, does my head hurt.'' Eugene said in response. ''Just keep pushing the lever. You do that and we might just get there faster.''

Boris continued. ''Okay, okay. Velvet, that's your name right? You watch the front of the cart. Artyom, you're in charge of protecting the back. Something tells me we're not as safe as I thought.''

Velvet said. ''Okay. But fair warning though, in case we happen to run into any trouble. I'm not exactly well adjusted to any of this weaponry. So don't be upset if I can't mange to hit anything.''

Eugine laughed. ''What's there to know about shooting? Just aim in the direction of the enemy and pull the trigger until they stop breathing. Hell, I learned to shoot when I was only five years old.''

Attempting to respond Velvet said, ''Yeah, I guess that's the simplified version of things.'' All of a sudden Velvet's old headache came back to her. She groaned from the intense amount of pain.

The others seemed to be affected as well. All grabbing their heads with the same type of pain as Velvet. The pain went on for at least twelve more seconds. Then suddenly everyone on the cart just blacked out.

Several long and silent minutes passed. And in all that amount of time everyone stayed in an unconscious state, and the cart remained in its still position.

Artyom suddenly shot awake. Pulling out his Revolver that Hunter gave him and quickly began to scan the area. Turning to Eugine, he quickly woke the man up by giving him a light slap on the face.

Eugine began to sit himself up. ''Now what's going on? Shit, oh shit. Everybody, people wake up now. Wake up for God's sake, will you? Boris, Velvet. Come on wake up you two. We have more than a lot of company.''

Velvet snapped into consciousness, while Boris remained Unconscious. Eugine quickly started with the lever, pulling and pushing it as fast as he was able to. But it was too late, mutants were closing in on them fast.

Aside from shooting his own gun all Eugine could do was shout orders to both Velvet and Artyom, telling them to do the same. ''Shoot, start shooting them. And hurry, or you'll let them get to close to the cart. ''

Artyom loaded his Bastard gun, and opened fire on the mutants. Velvet shortly hesitated, but eventually joined in on the shooting. But like she had said earlier, she wasn't used to the weaponry. So unlike Artyom, she was unable to hit anything.

Several of the mutants launched themselves onto the cart. One of which tackled Artyom down, putting its claws deep into his arm. Artyom responded by pulling out his knife and stabbing the thing in its eye. He then stood up and resumed firing.

Eugine handed Artyom his Shotgun. ''Here, you can use this. If you can try to blow the Mutant's heads off.'' Eugine said to Artyom, to which Artyom gladly complied to the request that would seem odd to anyone not born in the Metro..

Boris finally came to a full awakening. It only took him a few seconds to quickly realize what horrible situation they were all in. Grabbing his Machinegun he quickly joined in on the large quantity of shooting.

More and more of the Mutants rapidly took turns flooding the cart, attacking all of the passengers. Seeing Artyom being attacked and clawed at by several of the Mutants, Velvet quickly rushed to his aid.

She kicked, and even punched at the mutants with the Butt of her rifle. One of the mutants slashes at Velvet, causing her to fall back. Now having an opportunity, Artyom quickly dispatched the rest of the mutants with his knife.

Boris shouted. ''We're getting closer to the roadblock, if we can just manage to hold out a little longer we'll make it. Somebody pass me some ammo will you? Something tells me this is far from being done.''


	5. Bourbon

**A/N: Still tagging along along for the ride? Well I'm glad to have the company. As always please feel free to leave an Honest Review, consider Following to be alerted when I release a new Chapter, and if you really enjoyed please Favorite the Story.**

**Chapter 5: Bourbon**

_Artyom's Diary Entry. _

_Velvet, Boris, Eugine, and I just barely managed to survive the mutants in the tunnels to Riga. But with Lady luck on our came through with only minor damage. Riga station was only the first stop on what would be a long tiring journey for me, sadly the caravan would go no further. So before we parted ways, we drank to celebrate our survival. Soon Velvet and I would find ourselves with an unexpected and notorious addition to our small team._

Boris stood up, his drink held high above his head. ''All right, boys! Let us drink to our two new friends here, Artyom and Velvet. Who both can show Mutants, and even the Anomalies alike that they don't play around like little kids. To... Artyom and Velvet!''

Everyone else in the small bar cheer the names of the two supposed heroes. Velvet smiled, she felt pretty good to be called a hero. However Artyom didn't care too much for all of the attention. He just took another sip of his cup of Vodka.

Sitting back down in his chair, Boris talked to his two saviors. ''If not for you two Eugine and I would have been shredded like little cabbages. I don't even want to think about it. You should both get a few medals for what you did out there. I haven't seen anything like it since the bombs dropped.'' Boris reached into his shirt pockets and pulled out a few cases. Each of them contained a large number of cartridges. ''I guess the least I can do is give you some extra ammo. Here, you definitely deserve them.''

Velvet attempted to be polite and just deny the currency. ''Oh don't even mention it. There's really no reason to even give us any of your...'' But she stopped speaking when Artyom gladly accepted all of the extra rounds and stuffed it into one of his own pockets. He wasn't about to say no to ammo that could buy them even more ammo.

After laughing Eugine proposed what he considered to be the idea to end all ideas. ''Alright now everybody have yourself a few more drinks. Don't worry Boris, I'll get the drinks this time. Bartender, bring us something even stronger will you? Something that can melt our lungs.''

The Bartender searched through a few lower cabinets underneath his counter. Inside was his special stash. As the name implied it was only opened for very special occasions. Seeing as these four has just survived a Nosalis attack this was a perfect time.

He brought a bottle of a very red liquid. He poured the alcohol into the four cups and left the table so the customers could enjoy their drinks. Artyom took a strong whiff of the beverage. The smell was very familiar to him. ''Smells like gasoline.'' He said awaiting a joke from either of the men sitting in front of him.

''Only about half of it actually is.'' Eugine said, causing Artyom's eyes to widen and Velvet to become seriously alarmed. ''But don't worry too much about that. Come on, let us drink my friends.'' Despite hearing that what he was about to drink was a fuel source, Artyom and everyone else except Velvet complied to Eugine's request. Velvet wasn't really keen on the idea of drinking pure gas. It was already bad enough that this was th first time she had even consumed alcohol.

Artyom began to comply to the request even further. So much so that he had the Bartender come back and refill his cup. By the time he was finished drinking the entire bottle had been emptied. There were no signs of intoxication from Artyom aside from a few hiccups.

Needless to say Eugine was quite impressed and even a bit intimidated by the large quantity of liquor Artyom was able to consume without his heat exploding out of his chest. ''Artyom how exactly are you immune to that shit? That was an entire bottle you just endured. You're like a damn champion.''

Boris began to laugh due to how intoxicated he was. ''See if one more of those will knock him down. I know it will knock me down. Just like my old girlfriend. Am I right or am I right lads? Haha... I hate myself.''

After that weird little episode Eugine continued. ''Okay, okay. Well I guess we only have one more thing to check off then. Let's have just one more drink to our luck. And to both of our glorious saviors.'' Everyone took yet another drink with each person finishing their cup. Even Velvet joined in this time. Though she immediately regretted it thanks to the headache that followed the consumption.

Boris began to cough quite a bit but eventually managed to speak a few words. ''Ha, the Vodka always manages to kick my ass, huh?'' He paused for a few seconds. He used up all of his strength trying not to throw up. ''I'm hoping that I get to see you both again very soon. And if either of you are ever in desperate need of another Caravan job. I'm certain you know who to talk with.''

Artyom stood up and began to write a few more words in his Diary. After finishing he spoke to both Boris and Eugine before leaving. ''Right. Well both of you fine men have both my and appreciation thanks.'' Artyom pulled out his new Shotgun that he had been given in the tunnel in order to keep him and the rest of the gang alive. He gestured it in Eugine's direction. As much as he like the new weapon, it wasn't his.

Which is why what happened next made him pretty happy. Eugine refused the weapon. ''No it's for the best that you be the one to keep it. From what I saw back there you're pretty damn good with that thing. I'd be committing a horrible sin if I were to take it away from you, and I'm one away from going straight down to Hell with my father. That and it's not quite what it used to be.''

Nodding with a thankful smile on his face Artyom said, ''Thank you very much, Eugine. Velvet, come on we need to be on our way.'' Velvet quickly hurried out of her seat. She knew full well that Artyom didn't wish to waste anymore of their time. And more importantly that he'd gladly leave her behind if that meant he'd get to Miller at a faster rate.

Artyom made his way to the stairs, but stopped when he saw a familiar instrument. It was a piano, Artyom hadn't seen one of them in over ten years. He walked up to the gigantic instrument and placed his hands on the pedals. Artyom then played a short, but beautiful song.

If there was one thing that he was good at, it was playing an instrument. After he finished up, Velvet applauded him. ''I didn't think you as the type who could play music. Where'd you learn to do play like that?''

Removing his hands from the piano Artyom told her, ''It was my Mother who first taught me.'' And he left it at only that. That was all Velvet needed to hear to know he didn't wish to continue with the answer any further. Standing up once more this time the two actually made it down the stairs. At the bottom there was a larger amount people. Some of whom were beggars asking for any amount of money.

''Come on we can't stop for anything.'' Artyom advised before pulling out a cigarette that he had started to smoke back up in the bar. ''I don't know how we'll do it but we're going to have to find a way to get to Miller.''

Velvet made a suggestion that they leave the same way that they arrived. ''We could always try taking another cart. Though I wouldn't really want to wind up back in another one of those tunnels. I'm tired of shooting-''

She was stopped for the second time that day by another voice that had just barged in on their conversation. It was a very young child. He must've been no older than only ten years old. He was dressed in a dirty brown coat that was a little to big for him.

The Boy asked the two strangers a question that would hopefully lead him to a reward. At least what he considered to be a reward worthy of his services. ''You're the two named Artyom and Velvet, right?''

Artyom bent down, so he was face to face with the child. Artyom answered, ''Yes, we are.'' And left it at that.

The Boy continued. ''There's a man waiting at the Black street for both of you. I'll take you both there for only one bullet!''

Artyom turned to Velvet. To her surprise he seemed to be laughing. Artyom said to her, ''In ways he reminds me of myself when I was younger.''

Removing a single bullet from his pocket, Artyom handed it to the little boy. The Boy said in response, ''Thank you. Now, would you please follow me?''

Velvet and Artyom followed the little boy around the entirety of Riga station. Velvet was starting to be glad Artyom paid the Boy, the awkward pathways of the station were confusing to her greatly.

Finally they reached where the man was. The Boy said to the duo. ''That is him sitting right over there. I'll be on my way now, Bye!'' The Boy quickly ran off, most likely to spend his new fortune.

Artyom and Velvet turned their eyes to the man. He made a friendly gesture for them to take a seat at his table. Both of them were of course hesitant at first. But after curiosity got the netter of them they accepted.

The unnamed man stared at Velvet's ears for a short amount of time. He said, ''I didn't think they were telling me the truth when they said that you actually had Bunny ears. But guess they were right.''

He continued. ''Everybody here calls me Bourbon. Listen, I need to get to Dry station, for some ''Business'' you could say. But, this rat hole is currently on lockdown. I however, know a back way, a so called cursed passage. The locals here are too afraid to use it. But I hear that you two aren't afraid of what's in the tunnels. So you two help me get to the Station, and I'll give you my AK. Sound like a deal?''

They turned to each other to discuss whether or not they should welcome a new traveler to join the small group.

Speaking her thoughts first, Velvet told him, ''I really don't like the look of this guy. He seems like the type of person who once he gets what he wants he will betray us the first chance he gets.''

Artyom had a completely different idea. ''Don't you see that AK that he has on his back? I don't think you understand how much I really need and want that AK. We could take on the entire Metro with that Weapon.''

His Faunus friend told him, ''It's just another gun. From what I've seen so far you can practically find those in every corner of this place. Besides, you already have a few different weapons at the ready.''

''Yeah, but not any AK's.'' The Russian pointed out, the point being irrelevant to Velvet. ''Besides, we could always use the extra hand in a fight. Might run into a few more Mutants on the way. We barely survived last time.''

Making the choice for both of them, Artyom told Bourbon, ''You have yourself a deal, Bourbon.'' He said, shaking hands with the new addition of the small team. Velvet frowned at not getting a chance to speak her part.

Bourbon stood up and began readying his weapon and backpack. ''Good, that's very good to hear. Come on then, we're going to have to leave now. Sitting in this crap hole won't get us anywhere. Dammit, this is the last time that I'm ever coming back here.''


	6. Lost Tunnels

**Guest: In the Book series, Artyom starts out as a 24 year old man. However in the first game, which is also the source that I plan on using, he's only 20, which is how I will keep him. At least until we get to Last Light and eventually even Exodus. As for what I'm doing involving pairings, I don't really know. If any of you want a pairing between Artyom and Velvet, be sure to let me know. I might just consider the idea.**

**Also I decided to split the Lost Tunnel Section into two different Parts. I should probably note that when it comes to fight scenes, I'm horrible at them. Which is why the next Chapter will start after the Bandits are all killed. Please consider leaving an honest Review so I know what you think so far.**

**Lost Tunnels:**

_Artyom's Diary:_

_Velvet and I quickly followed our newfound ally Bourbon into what many people like to call the Lost tunnels. As soon as we entered the two of us wondered if we had made a wise decision in trusting the man. But we didn't really have any other immediate options. _

_All of the exits were still closed off. That and there was no telling if I'd ever have another chance to leave Riga Station. Plus, I'm really itching to get my hands on that AK that Bourbon promised us. It certainly does look like a fine weapon._

_As for the bunny eared girl herself, I guess I'm glad to have her to help me reach my destination. She's proven to be both wise, and can take care of herself whilst in combat or any other bad situation. She seems like a bright kind of soul. _

_She's been good to have as a fr... ally so far. __I can only wonder what she plans on doing after we get to Miller, and we finally go our separate ways. Since she's not very familiar with the Metro she might just have to return to my home Station._

The tunnels contained nothing but darkness that seemed to stretch for miles. All of the excessive darkness caused some unsettling feelings to stirrup inside of Velvet and Artyom. Only the lights they all carried with them gave them any kind of comfort.

It all reminded Artyom of the tunnels that he once ran through with his childhood friends all those years ago. Back when he was nothing more than a small ignorant child. It was his first and only time he had left the Metro. He hated to remember.

Velvet didn't really feel the same eerie feeling though. But that was only because she hasn't heard any of the rumors surrounding the tunnels. And more importantly, the horrors that live within them. The creatures that drag you into the dark while you scream for mercy.

She could tell that Artyom was feeling very unsettled. Despite already knowing the answer she questioned him in a both calm and relaxing manner. ''Are you doing alright, Artyom? You seem to be a little frightened. There's nothing wrong with being scared of the dark.''

Artyom quickly came back to his senses. He did his best not to start a new conversation in order to keep himself distracted. ''No. No it's alright I'm perfectly fine. I just have a bad feeling about this place is all. I'd rather not talk about it any further if you don't mind?''

Rubbing his eyes let Velvet know that the young Russian was not telling the entire truth. But before Velvet could question Artyom any further Bourbon stopped walking and spoke up to the two of them causing them to stop as well.

''You both really need to keep your eyes peeled down here.'' Bourbon said, checking to make sure his weapon was fully loaded. ''Dozens of tough guys have died in these tunnels. As long as we watch each others backs. We'll be perfectly fine.''

Artyom equipped his recently gained Shotgun. He looked down its sights in order to get a better feeling for it. There was still a little bit of dry blood on the gun. Artyom smiled, happy to have such a destructive weapon in the grasp of his hands.

'Thank you very much, Eugine.' Artyom thought to himself while his smile continued to grow.

Velvet questioned Bourbon on their location. ''So, about these tunnels? Just to clarify, You've been through them on multiple different occasions. As in you know exactly where we are going? I wouldn't want to get lost in a place like this.''

Bourbon responded to his Faunus Companion, ''I know where we have to go, Da. But it's not as if I've mapped out every small corner of the place. But I can tell you right now, I won't get us cornered by a bunch of Watchers. If that's what you're asking me.''

His weapon now full of ammunition Bourbon continued to hand out instructions. ''Just don't wander too far off. Because if you do I will not take the time to do any backtracking and rescue either of you. Now come on we have a very long walk ahead of us. Hope you're looking forward to it.''

Bourbon quickly hurried along through the Lost Tunnels while Artyom and Velvet followed him from closely behind. None of them would be getting much sleep after that experience. Bourbon and Artyom lost track of how many times Velvet screamed at the sight of a spider.

A little further down the right path, Bourbon ordered the two to stop with the raise of his hand. Seeing what Velvet and Artyom could only describe as a large rat, which to Velvet's surprise seemed to be extremely unsettling to Artyom, Bourbon shot a few inaccurately fired bullets at the large rodent.

Bourbon told them not to panic. ''Don't worry it's just a single Lurker. They never attack large groups of people so we should probably be fine. But, if either of you are ever alone watch your backs. They can leave some dangerous marks on you.''

The three continued their dangerous trip through the tunnel. Aside from their flashlights that were already low on power their only lighting was the occasional red flashing lights on the tunnel walls. There were also a good amount of glowing Mushrooms. Artyom warned Velvet about trying to eat one.

Suddenly distressful noises flooded every part of the tunnels. They were very unsettling ones that kept everyone except for Bourbon on edge. He was all too familiar with the noise. His two friends were now ready for any kind of attack or enemy.

Bourbon shoved off the noises as, ''Nothing more then the wind or the ground making those noises. I also heard tales of singing pipes. They say that if you listen long enough you can hear the voices of the dead. It's complete bullshit.''

Artyom found it to be an acceptable answer as he was not much of a believer of tales relating to ghosts or spirits. Though Velvet wasn't as quick to simply brush it off as just a little bit of wind.

Bourbon handed out a warning. ''We're going to have to be extra quiet around here. There will probably be some kind of roadblock in the second tunnel. They're camps that the Bandits use to kill anyone that passes by. Trust me we don't want to draw their attention.''

Crawling their way through a train the three found themselves at a brutal sight. Multiple corpse were laid across the floor. All seeming to be recently killed, bullet wounds in all of them. Bourbon quickly formulated an explanation for the corpses.

''Caravaners, it looks like they're all dead.'' He said, there was no significant of emotional change in his voice. He had seen too much death in his life. ''I've seen this execution style far too many times. Bandits did this. I knew that there still had to be some around here. And Hanza had the balls to say they managed to kill them all. This is why you have to keep your eyes peeled at all times. These bastards wont let us pass freely.''

Velvet questioned the term, ''Bandits?'' As it had different meanings. A small and local gang in Vale was referred to as Bandits before they were all taken in by the Police.

Artyom explained, telling what he had learned from his stepfather, ''Raiders, Murderers, Rapist's, Thieves, the worst kind of people in all of the Metro. Unless you count the Nazis.''

That rundown was enough information for Velvet to be able to cross ''Bandits'' off her possible friends list.

Bourbon noticed a few cans hanging by strings, stationed right outside of a door. ''A Homemade Alarm system. Seeing as there's no other option, we'll go through the door. If you don't want to alert anyone, don't touch the cans.''

Velvet said, ''Wait. You want us to go through that door? That one right there. The one with the Bandits on the other side? You know, the Bandits who killed these innocent people? The same Bandits with guns.''

Artyom supported her objection to the idea. ''It does seem like a pretty bad idea. There's only three of us and there's an entire small army of them. Are you positive there is no other way around?''

Bourbon answered the question. ''Well, that all depends. Are you both okay with the thought of marching through a Mutant infested hot spot for several long and painful hours? Because I know I'm not.''

Velvet and Artyom exchanged a quick look and at the same time both said, ''Bandit door it is.''

As soon as Bourbon opened the door, he made sure to give the two newbies some more quick advice. ''Make sure you watch your every step in here. Even the smallest crack of noise will give away our position.''

Bourbon slowly switched off his lantern, wanting the area to be as dark as possible. With the open of yet another door, one of his hands were once again raised in front of the soon to be Stalkers.

He pointed and warned them about a trap. ''Look closely, there is a tripwire. That's a good way to get rid of the blind, stupid, and any daredevils. I hope you both know how to go about this?''

Velvet chuckled and jumped right over the wire. Artyom carefully stepped over the explosive triggering wire. He then pulled out a small and rusty pair of pliers and disarmed the trap in a very careful manner.

'That was kind of nice of him.' Velvet thought to herself. Now anyone else who came through that door had a less likely chance of randomly exploding into pieces and staining the nice walls and carpets.

A few more steps forward they now found themselves behind a wall. The voices of strangers flooded the ears of the three. ''Are those Bandits?'' Velvet quietly asked. Bourbon answered, ''I have no doubt.''

Bourbon reached into his pockets and pulled out what looked like small knives. He offered them to Artyom. 'My eyesight isn't what it used to be. If you see the head of one of the Bastards, throw one of these into them.''

Artyom took the throwing knives. Staying in a crouched position he makes his way out of the cover of the wall. Now only concealed by the shadows. Seeing a man standing away from the others, Artyom throws the knife towards the Bandit.

It connected with his head, killing him instantly. Artyom ran up to the corpse and retrieved the Knife by ripping it out of the man's skull. He accidentally took a decent portion the the man's face off as he did.

That was the first time Artyom killed another man, he had the idea that it wouldn't be the last. Not by a long shot.

He quickly returned to the others and whilst keeping his voice down asked Bourbon, ''What do you think we should do now? Pretty sure there's far too many of them to keep things going quiet. ''

The only thing Bourbon did in response was raise his weapon high in the air. Artyom and Velvet both knew what he was implying with this bold action. They both nodded and raised their guns as well. In just a second they'd have a fight on their hands.


	7. Lost Tunnels II

**A/N: Part 2 was pretty easy for me to create. I thought about starting it off to where it would be after the Team killed all of the Bandits. Though I realized I'd lose some important character development. ****Also I wont be describing every small detail in this Chapter.**

**And yeah this Chapter is pretty short, I know. I was just trying to get Artyom and Velvet into the Market a little faster. That way we can get just a little more character development out of them.**

**Guest Review: This is Velvet before the fall happened. I'd say around either the ending of Volume 2 or the beginning of Volume 3. And technically she hasn't really killed anybody yet, only Artyom has so far. You make a good point of the pairing.**

**Lost Tunnels II:**

Bourbon gave out instructions to his Companions. ''Okay, on my mark we open fire. Artyom, those three right there are all pretty close to each other. That Bastard might actually be useful in dealing with them. Velvet, you and I will dispose of any that he doesn't manage to kill.''

Artyom pointed his Bastard towards the three Bandits. Usually a gun that sprays bullets all over the place would be a bad thing. A horrible thing even. However the opposite was true in a situation like this, seeing as all of the enemies were huddled up together.

Before they even began to shoot, Velvet asked Bourbon if there was a way to avoid any conflict. ''Are you sure that there is no other way that we could get past them? We haven't even tried sneaking around them? And do we really have to shoot all of them? I'm sure that we could knock a few of them out.''

If there was one thing that Velvet didn't like it was the idea of taking another intelligent being's life away from them. At least any that can respond to you, has a basic set of emotions, and can listen to the voice of reason anyway. It just felt so wrong to her.

Bourbon answered her question. ''I'm absolutely positive. There's way too many of them to try and sneak by. And trying to talk our way past them is out of the question. Trust me, I've already tried that a few times before. You don't want to know what they do to the women they catch.''

Velvet sighed and once again aimed her weapon back at the Bandits. Now that everyone was finally ready Bourbon could begin to slowly count up to three. ''Okay, remember on three you guys. Make all of your shots count. One... two... three... now!''

Artyom squeezed his Bastard's trigger back allowing its bullets to fly and rip through the three Bandits he was assigned to kill. When he was sure that he managed to dispatch all three of them he began to rush towards the rest of the men. This was clear deviation against Bourbon's original plan.

As he continued to move forward he was sure to pull out his new Shotgun and fire off a few rounds into the chests of a few more Bandits. One done with them he turned around to see just one more Bandit charging right at him with what looked like a rusty machete.

But before the Bandit could take another step toward Artyom, Velvet was able to knock the attacker down with the butt of her gun. As she smashed it into his face some of the man's now bloody teeth crashed against the wall and made Velvet a little sick.

Wanting to return the favor Artyom thanked her by shooting a few more of the approaching attackers. Thanks to his accuracy all of them were knocked dead to the ground with brand new holes in their heads and other parts of their bodies.

For some time the only thing that filled the small room was a large amount of awkward silence. They had managed to kill or incapacitate all of the enemies. Only was this silence eventually ceased when Bourbon slapped Artyom right across his face.

Bourbon began to shout at Artyom so loud that Velvet actually had to cover her ears. ''You were only supposed to kill those three right there. I don't remember instructing you to rush out of cover like a madman with that Shotgun you picked up. I don't really care if you manage to get yourself killed. But think next time you're about to put my own life on the line.''

Artyom rubbed his now sore face. He didn't speak back to the older man. It's not like he had anything clever to say anyway. Bourbon sighed and tried to move on ''Don't worry about that now. You haven't dealt with Bandits before so I suppose I shouldn't try to hold it against you.''

Bourbon began to carefully loot a few of the many corpses of the Bandits. He was mainly hoping to find any type of spare ammo or anything else that could provide some sort of use to them. At first there wasn't too much of value aside from a few Grenades.

Sitting himself down next to a few bodies, Artyom pulled out his cigarette case. Smoking was an activity that always managed to help Artyom calm down when placed in a stressful situation. He was beginning to wish he brought more packs with him.

Velvet decided to take a seat next to him. She waited for him to finish his cigarette before speaking. ''I don't think he should have slapped you like that. But I also think it would have a good idea for you to have stuck to his plan. You almost got killed back there. Why did you charge forward like that anyway?''

Artyom tossed away his now used cigarette and pulled out another. ''Can't say I really know. Guess I got a little too caught up in moment. I just felt so power at once Thought maybe I could try and get them all by myself. I admit that it was pretty stupid of me to even consider the idea in the first place.''

Since they were already talking Velvet decided to ask him a very personal question. ''Artyom...'' She thought about holding back the question. ''Have you ever killed another person before?'' The Russian's eyes widened at the question. ''I mean before we came here. Before we left your home Station.''

He gave a very calm and simple answer. ''No.'' Only adding more to it when he saw Velvet's concerned expression. ''No I haven't done this before. I know it's a really weird thing to say. But I thought it would be a little bit harder to take someone's life. But for some reason it was a surprisingly easy thing to do. Almost like I was meant to do it. Have you ever tried it? Have you ever killed one of your own?''

Her expression barely altered but Velvet still answered the question. ''Well first off I'm not really a full human. I'm a Faunus remember? But no I haven't killed anyone before. And I'm glad I still haven't. You know, in a way that's only because of you. If you hadn't charged out there like a maniac I might have lost a little bit of my innocence.''

Looking over at the Bandit that Velvet had knocked unconscious with her weapon, Artyom noticed that the man was still alive and breathing. He quietly muttered to himself, ''Well at least one of us still has what little is left of our innocence intact.''

Bourbon got the attention of the two by rapidly clapping both his hands together. Both of them were startled by the rude attention grabber. ''Come on you two. We have to keep on moving without slowing down. More of them will probably be on their way in no time at all.''

Both members of his company quickly got up to their feet. ''Well come on already. Do you want to get shot at some more?'' Bourbon hurried both of them to a nearby door. They didn't even have half a second to catch their breath or continue their conversation. They just kept on follow the man who was slowly becoming their leader.

On the other side of the door was what looked like some kind of old bridge. Or what was left of one anyway. Clearly the condition of the bridge was not something that acted as a huge concern for any of the inhabitants of the Metro.

Bourbon spoke up to his two friends. ''I've been across here a few other times before. This bridge is not a good place. You two are going to have to watch my back. If you do that I'll be sure to keep you both covered as well. But listen Artyom, I don't want to catch you trying to play hero again. Do we have an understanding with each other?''

Artyom held back his fist and instead nodded to him. ''That's great to hear. Now I'd suggest you both put your masks on. Believe me when I say the air in here isn't clean. And if you don't believe me just take a look at some of the other people who didn't wear their masks.''

The journey across the bridge proved to be a real challenge for the trio. Aside from all of the Mutants that wanted to devour them and their delicious flesh, there was also a large quantity of poisonous air.

Artyom practically wen't through all of his shotgun ammo, trying to keep all of the beasts back as best as he could. Though he hated the gun, Artyom switched to his Bastard, not having any other real choice.

Luckily aside from a few scratch marks on Bourbon's arm, no one was actually harmed on the way across the bridge. They were really just tired out when they eventually made it to the other side.

They came across a cave-in. Bourbon cursed, ''Shit, you've got to be kidding me. It's a damn Cave-in. Oh, look there's a staircase. Looks like we're being lured in. Fuck it, there's no other way around, let's go.''

''Well we can't exactly go back the way we came.'' Velvet said, hearing the roars of the Mutants on the other side of the bridge. She took a few steps back ''For a good number of reasons. How about we go that way?''

She pointed to a path which not surprisingly, just led to yet another bridge. Which much like the last one, contained a good amount of Mutants for them to deal with. Though they were also handled with little injuries.

Going down a small rusty staircase, they found themselves in what could only be described as a toxic graveyard. Filled with rotten and decomposing corpses. Velvet and even Artyom were disgusted by the sight.

Bourbon said, ''Both of you search any of the fresh the bodies. Those are the ones with the good stuff. I'll try to find us a way out of this place.'' Bourbon began to search for an exit to the room.

Looking over to him, Velvet said to Artyom, ''Something tells me that he hasn't been through here before. Maybe we should try to back-'' Velvet grabbed her head in pain. The headache had made its return.

Artyom soon did the same. The Illusions then set in. Well, just one Illusion. All three people found themselves in the same Dark Tunnel. At the end, was the closed gate, Bourbon was trying to open it.

Neither Velvet nor Artyom could even speak to one another, all they could do is keep moving forward. They continued to rush towards the gate. Out of nowhere they found themselves to be seemingly dragged back by an unseen force.

Using the support of the other they just barely managed to reach the rusted gate. Using all their combined strength they managed to open the gate and pull themselves along with Bourbon to the other side. Of course they could barely breathe afterwards.


	8. The Market

**Author's Note: Hopefully this Chapter is a little better than the last. Once again I'm sorry for how short it was. And I'm sorry for splitting the Lost Tunnels section of the game into two parts.**

**Darth Reviewer: Eventually you'll all get an explanation as to how she arrived in the first place. I haven't really had any good ideas on how to explain it yet. Though I can tell you right now that time travel is out of the question.**

**Guest: That is pretty much what I'm trying to go for. It makes a lot of sense that Artyom wouldn't be immediately super experienced. By the end of the 2033 section however, he will be a much wiser young man.**

**The Market:**

_Artyom's Diary Entry:_

_I can easily say with a straight face that the time I've spent traveling towards Polis has been quite the interesting and equally dangerous journey. I can't say that it has been necessarily fun, but at the same time I can't say the opposite either. _

_Though it also has been terrifying. I've lost count of how many times I've come this close to dying. Whether it be a Mutant, a collapsing train, or my own stupidity. Well they can keep trying all they want. Nothing will stop me from reaching Miller at Polis._

_As for the Market, I've never seen one quite like it before. It's nothing like the ones back at my own Station. You could practically buy anything here. However what I and all of the other people saw as ''valuables'', Velvet simply saw as nothing more than junk or trash. _

_She's yet to tell me what it's like where she comes from. Though If she thinks one of our computers is junk. There must be some impressive stuff there.__Though we couldn't stay much longer. Bourb_on owed_ some money to Hanza sentries and he was anxious to leave._

After the large gate leading to the Market was completely opened, the three travelers were met face to face with what had to be the world's brightest light. That and there were several guns pointing right at them, able to blow them all of the face of the planet.

''Great, with any luck these must be even more of Bourbon's great friends.'' Velvet sarcastically thought to herself. She hoped that they would quickly understand that they were just a few friendly Stalkers seeking nothing more than passage.

One of the Sentries yelled instructions at them, ''You should listen to me, your lives depend on it. I want all of you to holster your weapons at once.'' Everyone quickly did as they were commanded. None of them were eager to get shot after they just came so far.

The Sentry shot a question at the three Stalkers. ''Where in the name of Hell did you three come from? Ah forget it, just start coming into the light. And do it slowly, very slowly. I don't want to see any sudden movements otherwise we'll have to shoot.''

One of the Sentries, an older looking man, immediately recognized Bourbon's face. ''Well, I'll be dammed. If it isn't my best friend Bourbon. It's been a long time hasn't it you old bastard? Guys, I think you know the protocol by now. You better search these two as well.''

''So, you old Drunk. What is it you are trying to carry in this time around?'' He looked over to Bourbon's two associates. ''And who's the boy, another poor young soul you brainwashed into thinking you're some kind of God. And who's the... wait does she Rabbit ears?!''

Velvet frowned, ''What is with you guys? Yes, is it not that obvious?'' She said, in a very rare aggressive manner. ''Yes I do. And before you ask. No, I am not a Mutant. This is just how I was born. Is it okay if we just leave it at that!''

Out of nowhere Artyom, who wanted to remain silent in order to not cause anymore unnecessary trouble, let out a short and awkward cough and casually said, ''By the way, my name is Artyom.''

The Sentry looked over and said to Bourbon, ''Bourbon you bastard, you always did have such a strange choice for the company you bring. But right now you have taken it to an entirely different level.''

Bourbon responded by saying ''Alright look boss, I'm sure that there is someway that we can work this money problem out without starting anymore trouble than we have to. Let's not upset anyone okay?''

''Sure, you and I will go and have ourselves a little nice chat about it.'' The Sentry pointed to one of his men and instructed him to, ''Keep an eye on these two. If they even give you the slightest bit of trouble shoot them both without hesitation. Can't trust any friends of Bourbon''

The man pointed his rifle at both Velvet and Artyom and shouted to them, ''I think you both heard him. I don't want either of you to move a muscle until they get back. And just so you know, I have always been one to follow my orders. No matter the task''

Artyom decided to defy the man's orders by moving his hand towards his pocket, which just so happened to be situated right below his weapon's position. Now alarmed, the man shouted, ''What the Hell do you think you're doing?!''

Pulling out a small back of cigarettes, Artyom made another casual response, ''Don't worry, I'm just getting myself a cigarette. Why, do you want one? Because I'd be more than happy to share with the man pointing a gun in my face.''

Velvet giggled at the Half-Joke. ''Sure, I guess I'll take one.'' He unexpectedly agreed, causing Artyom to remove two of the cigarettes from the box. He placed one of them in his mouth and handed the other one to the guard. He then removed his lighter shaped like a bullet.

''Hey, that's a nice lighter you go there.'' Another one of the guards complemented its design. Before he would make a response Artyom finished up lighting the man's cigarette and his own.

After taking a quick puff of his stick filled with cancer, he thanked him ''Thanks.'' And that was the end of the very odd and very awkward conversation. The Commanding Sentry then reentered the room with Bourbon. Saying to Velvet and Artyom, ''Okay you three can enter. Welcome to the Market.''

The Guard moved out of the way, allowing Artyom and Velvet to reach Bourbon.

Bourbon said to them, ''Let's go. Or would you like to stay here and enjoy the company of these men a little longer?''

The Commander warned, ''Hey you watch your tone, Bourbon! Now the three of you get the Hell out of here!''

Once the three were out of the entrance room, Velvet whispered to Artyom, ''That guy was certainly a piece of work.'', causing Artyom to chuckle.

Bourbon got their attention, ''We're in a lot of trouble. There is no way I can pay back those guys. Listen, take these cartridges, and buy some filters. I have a certain someone I need to talk to. We'll all meet at the Local Bar or I'll find both of you somewhere else. Go, you both have 5 minutes.''

Bourbon quickly ran off. Artyom examined the large amount of cartridges, ''Chert!'', the young Russian swore, ''How many filters are we going to need?''

Velvet answered, ''Obviously a lot. And I have a bad feeling about needing about needing a bunch.''

''We probably have a little extra, in case we want to buy anything else we might want, or need.''

Artyom quickly scanned the items for sale on the various tables and stands. Most of what was being sold were clothes, Ammunition, Firearms, Instruments, even various animals such as Rats were being sold. Artyom steered away from the Rats.

Only one item in particular caught his attention. It was the only thing for sale that he could remember using just before the War started. It was an old computer, and it still seemed to work.

Artyom ran up to the slightly broken down machine. ''God, look what you brought me today.'' Artyom said, even though he wasn't religious. ''I haven't seen one of these in ages. This was one of the few pieces of technology I used before the war.''

Looking over to the owner Artyom asked him, ''Hey, is there anyway that I can buy this thing off of you?''

He was answered with, ''Well that all depends, young man. Do you happen to have 150 just sitting around nearby?''

Artyom practically exploded after hearing the absurd price. ''Are you kidding me?! 150!? How the Hell is this thing worth 150?!''

''There are not a lot of these computers left. At least not one's that work anyway. Like I said, it still costs 150. You gonna buy it?''

Artyom sighed and backed away from the computer. ''Sorry, no deal. Come on Velvet. Let's go get those filters.''

''Wait!'', Velvet said, making Artyom stop in his tracks. ''You said something about a War. What'd you mean by that?''

Artyom's eyes widened in confusion. But then he remembered that the Bunny eared Girl was not used to Moscow. (Or you know, let-alone the entirety of Earth.)

Artyom said to Her, ''We don't really have a lot of time for an entire history lesson on the war. But I can explain the most important details.''

Artyom continued, ''In simple terms, every country hated all the other countries. That hate led to war. That war led to nuclear fire. That fire forced us down in the Metro tunnels. Here we are.''

Velvet said, ''You mean, you all did this to each other? That takes a lot of hate, if you're willing to destroy other entire countries.''

''As much as I hate to say it, Velvet. It seems that hate always beats Love in the end. Because there will always be more hate.''

Velvet didn't like to believe that was true. She hoped Artyom didn't truly believe it either. 'You can always find more love.'', she thought to herself.

Artyom brought up another conversation, ''What about you? What's it like where you come from? With how you see our technology, I assume your's is way more advanced?''

Velvet answered, ''I'm from the World of Remnant. From what I've gathered it's very different from this world. Especially when it comes to technology.''

Velvet continued, ''I was born in one of the four Kingdoms. Vale. There I attended Beacon Academy. The Academy is used to train Huntsmen and Huntresses, to fight the Grim that plague Remnant.''

Artyom scratched his head, ''Guess that's not the weirdest thing I've ever heard.''

The two spent the next three minutes spending all their cartridges on several filters, and a few Med-Kits. They then went to the Local Bar to meet up with Bourbon.

He stood drinking a cup of Vodka. He held out two more cups, offering them to the two. Artyom accepted his. Velvet however was still trying to forget the taste of the horrible drink.

Bourbon said to them, ''I made an arrangement with a guy to get us out of here. He's greedy but we don't really have any other options of leaving this place. Did you both get enough filters for the two of you?''

Artyom and Velvet held out their large supply of filters. Where they were going, they'd definitely need them.

''Alright, great. Now come on you two. Let's get the Hell out of here! I think you both already know the way out.''

The rest of the time in the Market was made up of Bourbon arguing with another man he also owed money to. Eventually the man backed down and agreed to open the gate so the three could leave.

When the gate to the Surface opened, Artyom noticed Bourbon quickly equip his AK. Which served as a Reminder to the young man of all the dangers that would be awaiting them on the surface.

Artyom, Velvet, and Bourbon all equipped their gas masks and exited through the gate. Bourbon said to both of them, ''Come on then kids, we need to get our asses moving. You'll find out why in just a second.''

The gate then closed behind them. They started the walk up the cold and rusty metal stairs that would eventually lead them directly to the surface. And with the surface came all of the horrors it contained.


	9. Dead City

**A/N: Due to all of the explicit language throughout the Story and possible mature themes in the future I'm trying to decide if I should change the rating to an M. But I think it's mainly sexual content that gets you that rating so I probably won't have to do it.**

**Update: I'm not going to have do it after all. Pretty sure I haven't even used the 'F' once throughout the entire Story. But eventually you will stumble across some scenes of violence.**

**As always please leave an honest Review so I know what you think so far. You should consider Following the Story so you'll be alerted when I post a new Chapter. And you can even give me a Favorite if you really enjoyed the Story. **

**Dead City:**

_Artyom's Diary Entry:_

_When we emerged into the ruins of Moscow I felt both fear and sorrow. Only once have I ever seen the surface after the fires of the war faded. But that was a long time ago. I had completely forgotten about everything that was waiting for me. _

_Despite being put on edge from the spectacular sight I somehow manged to see a very strange but also large amount of beauty in the dark skies and frozen landscapes. It reminded me of a few pictures I saw in an old children's book my Mother had read to me. _

_Bourbon looked over to me and patted me on the shoulder. Since I was a little shaken he made sure to mutter to me, ''And this is the real Dead City. Welcome to what's left of your real home, Artyom.'' In no way did I feel welcomed. I felt as though I was entering territory that didn't belong to me._

''Remember to be careful now you two.'' Bourbon warned both of the new Stalkers. He then crouched down next to a very rotten and old looking corpse. He decided to make a joke about the rapidly decaying body. ''Ah, here we have one of the many happy citizens going about their daily routines.''

He continued to speak about the dead man but now in a more serious tone. ''From all he's carrying my guess is that he was another Stalker. They'll come out here looking for scraps, ammo, pretty much anything that people will buy. They're a crazy bunch of devils. But then again so are we.''

Artyom always remembered the stories he heard about the Stalkers. All those men willing to go to the surface just to gather what little supplies they can. He thought they were just as brave as the Rangers. Though he knew they couldn't be more brave.

Bourbon suggested that they shouldn't idle for too long or they would eventually die from all of the poisonous air that surrounded them. ''We should keep moving. Doesn't matter how many you have, your filters won't keep you alive forever. Come on this way, let's go.''

Finding a rotten and wooden door that was almost burned into nothing but ash by the twenty year old nuclear fire, Bourbon kicked the thing right down which revealed much more of the outside world. It allowed the three of them to step right into the Dead City itself.

Wanting to remind the new Stalkers that he had a plan, Bourbon told them that, ''We just need to reach the nearby air shaft. After that we will all finally go our separate ways and never have to see each other again. And just like I promised you two get to keep my AK. Hope it helps you out.''

Neither of his Companions listened to the old man's reminder. They were to focused on observing what was once the place that Artyom and the rest of his people could call their home. Now it was only home to what could be described as evil in the purest of forms.

Memories began to rapidly flash inside of Artyom's head. They were all very painful and shocking memories. The same memories of when he was just a young and stupid child. There were even memories of his Mother. He could barely remember what her face looked like at this point.

Velvet had no memories of the place the inhabitants of the Metro named Moscow. All she could do was imagine it was once a beautiful place before the world's inhabitants decided to start killing each other over a bunch of nonsense about fuel and territory.

They both came back into the real and present world when they heard the roar of what sounded like several dozens of Mutants. Little did they know it came from only one Mutant. But there are in fact times where less is actually more. This being one of those times.

Bourbon whispered as loudly as he could ''Quickly hide, both of you.'' The warning made all three of them retreat into cover behind a nearby pillar. It looked like it was about to fall over with the passing of just a few seconds, but they didn't exactly have the time to be picky over what they use for cover.

Once behind the only thing keeping them out of the sight of death everyone could now more carefully observe the beast. Gigantic would have been a massive understatement. It had razor sharp teeth that looked like it could bite right through steel. And most terrifying of all it possessed the ability of flight.

Bourbon gave his fellow Stalkers another warning. ''No matter what happens you can't let that damned thing see you. If it does it will grab hold of you then squeeze the life out of you. Some people like to call them Demons. I admit the name is a good one. But I prefer to just call them bitches.''

''Yeah, of course you do.'' Velvet quietly mumbled to herself. Partly because she didn't wish to upset Bourbon, but mainly because there was a literal dragon right in front of them. After about thirty seconds passed the Demon decided to fly off. Artyom and Velvet sighed with relief.

''Just like I said, welcome to the Dead City.'' Bourbon said while the other Stalkers were getting their bearings. ''I know it's probably worse than you wee hoping to be. But still, welcome home, Artyom. Welcome to what little is left of the old world.''

Artyom still didn't feel very welcomed by the remnants of the real world. This was in no way his home anymore. Not like it had been all those years ago. Back when his Mother was still alive and not ripped into pieces by thousands of rats.

Bourbon approached a large gap that kept them from going any further. Upon looking down into the giant hole in the ground he saw it contained a very large quantity of water. He began to position himself on top of an old and rusted car.

''Try to keep up if you can.'' He said before attempting to jump to the other side of the large gap. He made it but just barely. Even the slightest bit off and he would have been stuck in the water. Every other Stalker knows that's the last place you want to end up. After Bourbon landed on the other car he held his hand out towards Artyom and Velvet.

''It would take too long to walk around so you'll both need to jump across too. Just g one at a time this thing isn't very stable. I just about fell in myself.'' Clearly confidence boosting was not one of Bourbon's better skills. ''No need to worry I'll be sure to catch you both.''

Velvet turned around and faced Artyom. She asked his opinion on how they should go about this. ''Do you think I should I go first? I guess I'm probably lighter than you seeing as I don't have that suit you wear to keep weighing me down.''

Artyom agreed with the idea. ''Da, that's probably the best way to start. And by the way this is a tactical suit. Weight doesn't matter when what you're wearing can stop any kind of damage. But forget about that for now. And hurry if you would, I really need to purchase new filters.'' Artyom popped his last filter into his mask.

Velvet took a few deep breaths and then a long running start. Using a lot of her strength she managed to leap over to Bourbon and grab the man's hand. He quickly pulled her up to safety. ''Alright, good job'' Bourbon said after letting go of her hand. ''Now it's your turn, Artyom. Do the same as your friend here.''

Unlike Velvet, Artyom didn't bother to take a running start or any deep breaths. Mainly because he didn't want to waste what little clean air he had left. He jumped, not using a lot of power as he did, and made a reach for Bourbon's hand. But of course he din't make it all the way. He only managed to make it halfway onto the car.

He was beginning to lose his what little grip he had on the rusted vehicle. Velvet attempted to assist him but was held back by Bourbon. He knew that if one more person were to stand on the car it would completely topple over. It didn't really matter because within seconds he was in the cold irradiated water down below.

The water came with an odd type of pain and discomfort. The water was freezing that was for sure. But because of all of the radiation it also managed to burn Artyom's skin. He had never felt any pain like that before in his entire life inside of the Metro.

Being born inside of the Metro also meant that Artyom wasn't exactly the best of swimmers. He never even learned how to when he was a child. Which is why there's no doubt that he would've drowned if it wasn't for Velvet who had jumped straight into the water after him. She was able to safely pull her Russian comrade out.

Once the two managed to pull themselves out of the water the freezing began to only worsened. It felt like they had just been teleported into space. Both of them had no doubt in their mind's that frostbite was about to set it. Velvet just really hoped that it wouldn't happen on her ears.

Bourbon shouted down to both of them. ''Well, shit. Looks like you'll both have to go around after all. Try not to step in anymore of that stuff. You got lucky this time but eventually all of that radiation will kill you. That gated building over there. Behind it you'll find a ventilation shaft. It will take us tight to Dry Station. I'll wait for both of you in the building.''

Bourbon quickly ran off as soon as he could once again hear the return of the familiar roars. Artyom quickly moved both himself and Velvet into a position where they could not be seen by the Demon. Even though they were no longer visible their amount of fear did not change.

Artyom flicked open his lighter and handed it over to Velvet. While trying not to freeze to death he was able to give her a suggestion. ''Try to wave it around your hands. Hopefully it will keep you warm enough before frostbite begins to set in.''

''Thank you, Artyom.'' Velvet barely managed to respond while her teeth were chattering. She was surprised at the uncharacteristically polite action. After the feeling in her hands returned and were no longer numb, Velvet was able to properly stand up.

She reminded Artyom of their current destination. ''Well you heard Bourbon. That building over there should be a straight shot to the Backyard. We should probably hurry before that Demon comes back. I think it has a real hate for us.''

Artyom nodded and with the support of Velvet was able to stand up as well. He handed one of the few Med-Kits he had left to Velvet. He then injected himself with the only one he had left. Velvet had a fear of needles so she did not do the same.

Reaching the small building didn't take too much time out of the day. The only dangerous situation the two Stalkers found themselves in was having to hide every few steps in order to avoid the Demon that had them on its list. In fact it even invited a few other Demons to come and join the fun.

Once they were inside, they both made sure to swap their filters since there was a decent amount of time that had passed. Artyom checked the inside of the building for mutants. The only dangers being a single Watcher.

Though the same could not be said for the rest of the journey. For there were dozens of more Watchers, as well as another Demon.

Luckily Artyom still had his Shotgun, which handled the Watchers, and just about anything else in just a few shots.

They eventually reached Bourbon, who had just finished dealing with a few more Watchers.

He reloaded his gun and said, ''Hey, glad you two Kids made it. Don't take this the wrong way, but I was certain that you were both goners, and wouldn't last a minute on your own.'' Velvet and Artyom both rolled their eyes.

Bourbon continued, ''We should be close now. Pretty sure just one courtyard left then we're there.''

Velvet went to question Bourbon but stopped when she heard a very peculiar and threatening noise. She quietly asked both of the men, ''Did either of you hear that? I think we're about to be in trouble.''

Bourbon responded to her claim. ''Nothing. It's probably just those huge ears of yours. You're bound to hear all sorts of stuff from even hundreds of miles away. Now come on, better to be there sooner than later.''

But Velvet proved to be right in being suspicious. The roars of Watchers consumed the surrounding area. ''What about that, did you hear that?'', Velvet said sarcastically to Bourbon, causing the man to put on a frown.

He didn't even make any further response. All he did was just shout for Velvet and Artyom to both ''Start running like Hell.''


	10. An Injured Rabbit

**A/N: I haven't posted a new Chapter in a few Months. Sorry about that, just wanted to take a break for awhile. Despite that I hope that you can all enjoy this Chapter. And if you have the time please leave me a Review so I know what you think of the Story so far.**

**An Injured Rabbit:**

_Artyom's Entry: After we fled from the Mutants, Bourbon, Velvet, and myself managed to retreat back into the safety of the Metro, now a little closer to our intended destination. When reentering the Metro some traps were accidentally set off by Bourbon. He and I were unharmed, but some shrapnel damaged one of Velvet's ears and one of her legs. _

_Bourbon agreed to go and scout the area ahead while I do my best to patch her up. I can't say things are looking much brighter than when we were being chased outside, but as I've been told by many people, things can always get worse. So I have something to always look forward to._

One fact Velvet probably should've mentioned to Artyom before he started patching her up was that she wasn't the biggest fan of needles. So when Artyom offered her a Med-Kit, she slapped it right out of his hands. She later apologized for the rash and sudden action. Instead of using the Med-Kit, Artyom resorted to using some of the spare bandages he picked up back at the Market.

Velvet squirmed a little bit as Artyom wrapped the bandage around her ear and leg. Doing his best to cheer her up Artyom said to her, ''Don't worry, I'm sure that it won't be much longer until we reach Colonel Miller. And when we do, he's going to help us put an end to the threat of the Dark Ones once and for all. After that the Metro will label us both as heroes. That sounds rather good, Da?''

After Artyom finished with the bandaging, Velvet made her response, ''I guess it does sound pretty cool, yeah. No one's ever called me a hero before. And you don't have to lie to me, I know that we're not that much closer. But thanks anyway, Artyom. You're a nice guy. Seeing as we're on the topic of the Dark Ones, I've been wanting to ask a few things about them for sometime now. When exactly did they first arrive in the-''

Her question was cut off, Bourbon interrupting her. ''Okay you two off your asses. The way ahead doesn't hold too much trouble for us. Though, a few more of my ''Friends'' have a camp not to far from here. If you don't mind I'd like to get through this as quietly as possible. Now come on, we don't have all day, do we?''

''Maybe we should take another minute or two, don't you think?'' Artyom suggested to Bourbon for Velvet's sake. As much as he wanted to keep things moving, he didn't want to see Velvet lose her leg. ''She's still in a pretty bad condition, and we haven't had a lot of time to catch our breath. I'm sure that five more minutes couldn't-''

This time interrupting Artyom, Bourbon said to the young man, ''Oh, you want to take five minutes to rest? No that's fine you can go right ahead. But you should know that there's a possibility that in those five minutes, all of your Comrades are being butchered by the Dark Ones. They do not rest, so neither can you. We move now, either that or I will just have to continue on my own. Which means no AK for either of you.''

_You dumb sonofabitch. _Artyom thought to himself. However he didn't dare to speak aloud. Bourbon seemed like the kind of guy with a very short temper. But more than that he was a cold hearted idiot. Velvet was hurt and all he cared about was precious time.

Earning the AK was still something that Artyom looked forward to. But in saying that he also didn't want to see his comrade go through anymore pain than she had to. Especially since he knew she wouldn't want the same kind of suffering for him.

He was about to push further but Velvet placed her hand on Artyom's shoulder, stopping him. ''It's alright, Artyom,'' Velvet said. ''I'm in a stable enough condition to walk. And if what he says is true, we should probably be in a hurry anyway. Though if you could would you wrap my arm around your shoulder for support? I could use the help.''

''Sorry, but I'm not about to let you lose your one of your legs because of me.'' Artyom said, starting to stand up. To her surprise, Artyom picked Velvet right up, placing his arms around her knees and around her back. Both of their bodies were now squeezed close together which created a very soothing warm feeling.

In a way they were essentially cuddling. He gently patted her on the head like she was some small child and even tried his best at cracking a joke. ''Don't you worry now. I don't have any intentions on letting you go anytime soon.'' He then gave her a wink that was far from being subtle.

Velvet blushed quite a bit after seeing the wink. She did an awful job at trying to hide it from Artyom, who chuckled upon seeing her now strawberry looking face. ''I... Well thank you, I guess.'' She could barely even speak due to how nervous she was. ''But won't it be difficult for you to use any of your weapons like this?''

Bourbon told her that he would be the one to protect them. ''Don't worry, I'll be sure to cover both of you. But if we do somehow manage to get cutoff from each other there's little you will be able to do in that kind of position. So I suggest you stay close to me at all times.''

Since he wouldn't be able to use it anyway, Artyom placed Hunter's Revolver in Velvet's jacket. It was placed in a way so that he could act quickly when grabbing the weapon in order to keep both of them alive. He'd just have to figure out a way to grab it without letting go of Velvet.

After nodding Artyom began moving along with Bourbon, slowly making their way to a small and even more so dark tunnel. Bourbon shined his flashlight into the infinite abyss of darkness, revealing to them that the tunnel was empty. At least that was how it looked on their end. ''Alright, let's head on through. I'll go first. And this is the last time I plan on saying it. Stay close to me.''


	11. Khan

**Now our friends will finally get to meet the only true Russian version of Santa Clause. Come on, we all know that's exactly who Khan really is. He might not pretend to be the same person who puts presents under your tree while you're sleeping, but I know the truth. **

**Also I'd really appreciate it if each of you guys would leave me a Review or two for my Story. It can be a little bit of friendly advice on how I could improve certain aspects of the Story as a whole, or it could just be another way for you to send me your honest opinions. **

**Khan:**

While he was still in the middle of carrying Velvet, Artyom shot a question towards Bourbon about who they would be facing. ''So, I'm guessing that these 'friends' that you keep talking on about are a lot like the last ones we ran into? That would explain why you would prefer us to get through this as quietly as possible on our way to Dry station.''

''That's exactly why.'' Bourbon said to Artyom, whispering to him for that very reason. ''It is also the same reason you should be keeping your voice down. Now I don't have anymore of my throwing knives so in the event we happen to be detected things will have to switch to guns blazing. And seeing as you have some heavy cargo weighing you down... Well I'll just hope that you can run better than you can shoot.''

Velvet frowned when she heard the word heavy. Raising his hand high in the air, Bourbon halted Artyom. In front of them laid a large and rusty ventilation shaft. Artyom quickly backed away from it upon seeing a few small spiders crawl out of it. Velvet had her own reaction, her grip on Artyom tightened at the sight of the rather large arachnids.

Seeing their fear, Bourbon couldn't help but let out a small laugh, ''What, afraid of a few small spiders? If that's the case I doubt you two will survive that long in the darkness. But for now don't worry, the little ones are hardly ever a threat. Now, through here we should enter an old, but also abandoned bandit camp. Now come on, we don't have all day do we?''

Bourbon crouched into the vent, Artyom soon followed in after him. Despite what Bourbon told them, both Velvet and Artyom frequently jumped or shrieked at the sight of a spider. ''Hey,'' Artyom whispered to Velvet, since he didn't want a long period of silence in the vent system. ''How is your ear and leg holding up?''

''I'm feeling much better,'' Velvet responded in a quiet voice. ''You can put me down if you'd like, I think I can manage to walk on my own now.'' Artyom shook his head in disagreement, ''Trust me, you haven't had enough time to heal. When I was younger, me and a few of my old friends got into a small scuffle. But it ended with me taking a crowbar to the leg. Afterwords, I was taken to the infirmary and they put a cast on me, the doctor told me to take it easy for a few days. Me being as stupid as I was back in my child days, I immediately ran to take my revenge. Back then I never felt such pain before.''

Once again Velvet tightened her grip on Artyom, ''You know what, maybe a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.'' Artyom came to another stop, seeing Bourbon raise his fist once again. They were now at the other side of the vent system. The entrance to the ''abandoned'' camp.

''This is it,'' Bourbon said grabbing onto the the rusted vent. After removing the vent Bourbon made a failed attempt to squeeze through. Before removing his backpack Bourbon turned to his company and gave them more instructions, ''Both of you stay here for now, I'll scout ahead. And don't even think for one second about taking my gun.''

After hopping to the ground below, Bourbon called for Artyom to follow, ''We're good down here, coast is clear.'' After first lowering Velvet, Artyom dropped to the floor as well, handing Bourbon his bag. Bourbon withdrew his AK and kept the commands coming, ''Now stayed crouched down. This place might not be as abandoned as we thought.''

Artyom continued to do as he was instructed. As he began to scan the room he devised a similar theory as Bourbon did. The recognizable presence of bandits was all too familiar thanks to their last few negative experiences with them. The smell was the biggest hint. They always left a stench of evil everywhere they'd go.

''Hug the wall,'' Bourbon instructed, before turning his flashlight off. He did the same for Artyom since the young man's hands were full at the moment. ''Stick to the shadows and they won't be able to spot either of you. Now follow my lead, very, very carefully.''

Doing just that, Artyom practically merged himself with the wall, trying to stay as close to the surface as humanly possible. Their suspicions were right, there seemed to be dozens of bandits around every corner. All of whom were armed to the teeth.

Most of the bandits were equipped with decent body armour, submachine guns, or Bastard guns similar to Artyom's own. Essentially anything that didn't immediately pack a big punch, but could make up for it by shooting dozens of bullets in a short amount of time.

Light was slowly becoming unavoidable, lanterns and small makeshift fires appearing more and more often. After getting his attention with a quick tap on the shoulder, Artyom handed Bourbon what little remained of his throwing knives. Instead of using them for their intended purpose, Bourbon opted to use them for destroying lanterns, making a good amount of noise in the process, alerting a few of the bandits.

Bourbon pushed Artyom and Velvet behind some nearby cover. Peaking out revealed that the area was now being searched. ''Shit!'' Bourbon said at a volume only his company could hear. ''This went bad faster than I though it would. Okay, let me see. I have a few incendiary grenades, that'll make for a great distraction, don't you think?''

The idea worked, a little better than Bourbon would have originally planned. Instead of just lighting a few wooden boxes on fire, the grenades instead impacted a few unlucky bandits. Upon catching fire the men opened fire, taking out even more bandits along with them.

This was their one and only chance. Without giving them any kind of fair warning, Bourbon rushed ahead to an unguarded door, surprising both Artyom and Velvet. After standing himself up Artyom followed in the old man's example. Only he moved at a much slower pace.

After following him into the room Artyom began to yell at Bourbon for his crazy stunt. Similar to the way that had happened to him with the first group of bandits. ''What the Hell was that you just pulled? You can't just rush ahead like that, especially given the fact that I can't even use my own weapons.''

Bourbon chuckled and began to insult Artyom ''What, can't you run a few inches on your own? Or do you need your Mother to hold your hand? Relax you're both fine, now come on you two, through this door, then we're through the worst of it.'' After grabbing said door, Bourbon was seemingly knocked back several feet.

A bandit, most likely the leader of the pact, charged at Bourbon with a long knife. Bashing the attacking bandit with the butt of his AK proved to be quite effective for Bourbon. But it didn't take long for more bandits to rush in, all of them joining in on the attack on Bourbon.

Artyom didn't waste another second, after carefully and quickly placing Velvet out of sight of the bandits, Artyom joined in the brawl. He started his portion of the attack by disarming a metal pipe from one man and then smashing it against another's skull, knocking him down.

He then went for the lead bandit's knife, slashing it all over the place. But someone had a similar idea, and Artyom found his hand being practically cut open. The same bandit tackled Artyom to the ground, and began to repeatedly slam his fist into the young man's face.

It looked as though everything was going sideways for Artyom, but then unexpectedly, the bandit was kicked right off of him. Artyom looked to see that it was Velvet who had done the kicking. She then followed in the bandit's example, punching the man in his face a few dozen times.

After helping Artyom back on his feet, Velvet went for the few men attacking Bourbon. Artyom considered on assisting, but saw that Velvet could manage fine on her own. He was a little impressed with her combat skills. Throwing one more punch knocked the final bandit down, even taking out a few of his teeth.

If it would've been appropriate for the moment, Artyom would have gladly given Velvet an applause. Instead he injected himself with a Med-Kit, numbing the pain of his slashed hand. He then bandaged his hand up. After hearing Velvet gasp Artyom turned his attention towards his faunus friend.

She was standing over Bourbon, who was in an awful condition. His face was beaten and battered, his arms slashed, severe stab wounds on his chest, it was clear to Artyom what state he was in. Carefully Artyom placed his hand on Velvet's shoulder, still putting her on alert.

''It's alright, it's alright.'' Artyom said, trying to calm Velvet down. ''You did all you could. But he put himself in that position when he charged in here on his own. Don't think for a second that his death is your fault.'' Kneeling down to Bourbon's corpse, Artyom closed the man's eyes. He also took the AK, seeing as he would've gotten it either way.

''Come on, we need to keep mo-'' Artyom immediately stopped himself from speaking by covering his mouth upon hearing rustling from the vents above. Grabbing Velvet and placing himself in front of her Artyom, aimed up at the vent, ready for whatever creature or mutant would come out of it.

Which is why he was surprised to see a man drop out of the roof. Nevertheless Artyom raised his newly equipped AK at the figure. The man spoke to Artyom, ''You can put the gun down young man. Also, the safety's on.'' The man looked to Bourbon's corpse, ''Sad, but an expected end for the likes of him. It is good to finally meet you two. Especially you,'' The man pointed to Velvet. ''I wanted to see if the rumors were true. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Khan. And I'd suggest we'd leave this place while we still have the time to do so.''


	12. Ghosts

**I'll be taking yet another short break on this Story in order to work on some of my other potential projects. But don't worry, the next Chapter that I post will actually be a decent one. And hopefully it won't suddenly cut off towards the end. **

**As always please leave me an honest Review so I know what you guys think of the Story so far. You should also consider Following so you'll be alerted when I post any new Chapters. And if you really enjoyed my work you can even add the Story to your Favorites.**

**Ghosts**

_Entry: Khan, that is his name. Or at least the one he gave us. Our first introduction wasn't all too pleasant. I actually ended up pointing my gun right in his face. But for now he seems to be one of the few honest men left. In fact I'd even call him a kind man. He actually agreed to help us get on our way until we reach Grey Station. I'm not sure what he gets out of helping us, but we're in no position to refuse it._

_I only wish that he would have showed up a little bit sooner. Maybe then Bourbon would have survived our previous encounter with the Bandits that inhabit some of the darkest parts of the Metro. Bourbon's death still hasn't found its way out of my thoughts. Only because I fear it may have been my own fault._

Spiderwebs, there were so many damn webs. Each of them carrying a large number of the eight legged freaks. Artyom did his best to burn them down with his bullet shaped lighter. But the more he did, the more they jumped all over him to avoid the flames, some even biting him as they did.

As more and more began to jump on him, Artyom unsheathed his knife and began to strike at the spiders. Watching a heavily armed man flail around trying to stab some bugs provided Velvet with great amusement. The other Stalker quickly noticed that the Faunus girl was laughing at him.

''Is there something about me getting eaten alive over here? Could you please tell me what it is so I can laugh with you?'' Artyom asked in a rather aggressive manner and deep voice, which quickly stopped all of Velvet's laughing. She put on a both embarrassed, and apologetic look and began to make an apology to the young Russian.

''Oh, I-I'm so sorry. It's just that with the way you were... And I though that it was kind of funny how you just... I really didn't think that you would be that angry over it. I am really sorry, Artyom. I promise that it won't happen again any time-''

Velvet stopped her apology, noticing that Artyom was laughing quietly to himself. She then frowned, realizing that she was just played by Artyom. For a split second the idea of tackling him to the ground for revenge came to Velvet's mind. Though it went away, after she soon joined in on the laughing. She'd get him back.

Artyom patted Velvet on the back and said to her, ''Don't worry, I've never been so easily offended. I got tough skin.'' The two finished their laughing, afterwards Khan emerged from around a corner. For some reason the old man had what looked like a distressed expression on his face. It wasn't a very good sign.

Khan spoke to his new acquaintances in his distinctive voice, ''Nobody ever comes here. Neither people, nor the beasts. Even the rats are absent from this place.'' Khan knelled to the ground and placed his head against some nearby pipes, as though he was listening to them. He continued, ''They know we are here. Come, listen to the tubes. But whatever you do, don't listen for too long.''

While Velvet refrained from the odd request, Artyom's curiosity once again got the better of him. After the young man placed his head on the cold metal pipes, he was slightly dissapointed at first to hear not a sound coming from them. But after the passing of only seven seconds, voices became audible. Or more specifically the voices of young children, which caused Artyom to quickly shift away in a combination of both fear and shock.

It was the response Khan had expected from Artyom. He made sure to inform Artyom on what exactly he had just heard. ''Some say it is the voice of the tunnels, others think it might be a form of psychic influence. This tunnel in particular I know... and it knows me. We should get moving now.''

While Khan went ahead through a rusted gate door, Velvet just had to know what exactly Artyom had heard. He was still breathing heavily from the large scare, but was still able to form a few words, ''Did... you hear that too? The... children, they were laughing. Sounded so innocent, yet disturbing.''

Despite her incredible sense of hearing, Velvet had heard nothing. She questioned Artyom, ''You heard children? Yeah, that would be disturbing. Especially in a place like this. And what do you think Khan meant when he said this tunnel knows him?''

When his breathing finally calmed down, Artyom gave an answer. ''He seems to be quite the cryptic type. So I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you. Come on, the old man is right, we should keep moving. Don't want to get left behind, do we?''

The two then followed Khan through the gate, after which Artyom switched on his flashlight due to the ever increasing darkness. Noticing that Velvet didn't have a flashlight of her own, Artyom tossed her the lighter he used to fight off the spiders. After catching the lighter she gave him a thankful smile.

Before they descended any deeper into the tunnel, Khan gave a final warning to both of his allies. ''Both of you must be careful down here, for this tunnel is more dangerous than anything either of you have seen. I suggest that you both keep your lights on, otherwise we might just stay here forever.''

That was enough of a warning to make Velvet hastily flip open the lighter. She made sure to stick close to Khan and Artyom, seeing as they had better sources of light. Artyom gave her a reassuring look, doing his best to calm her down. But no look could get her to relax with what came next.

''Freeze, now.'' Khan shouted, putting Velvet and Artyom on full alert. They complied, and Khan once again ordered for them to, ''Look forward, and only forward.'' Flashes came, and with them a startling sight to behold. There were now dozens of shadow like figures standing in front of the trio.

For a split second Velvet though they were the same creatures she ran from when she first arrived in the Metro. But after a closer analysis she dismissed the theory. The things that she encountered were much taller and threatening. Not to imply that this situation was not terrifying.

There were a few times when Artyom's stepfather had told him of tales of ghosts that lived within the darker parts of the metro. He never believed them, even at his young age. But as they say... seeing is believing. And this sight would be a little hard to miss.

''I don't think the term ''who'' is an acceptable term here.'' Khan said, his statement not being that hard to agree with. ''We must go around all of it. Whatever you do, don't touch any of the silhouettes. Just stick close to me as best as you can.''

They happily obliged, both of them placing a hand on each of Khan's shoulders. Slowly the three began to move forward, maneuvering around the ghosts to their best ability. At points they were practically touching shoulders with the shadowy figures. Some of silhouettes even appeared to stare directly at them. There was an old train at the end of the tunnel. Khan waited for his companions to enter before he followed.

''Hey, you know what?'' Velvet quietly whispered in Artyom's general direction. The way she spoke gave Artyom a hint that she was about to say something in a sarcastic. tone or voice. All the same he looked over to her to see what she had to say. ''I think he might just be right.''


	13. Cursed

**A/N: I've been replaying the Metro series in order to get a much more clear understanding of the Characters and the worlds around them. I've also put in an order for After the fall. It apparently revolves around Velvet and her respected team. **

**As always I'll ask you to please leave me an honest Review so I know what you guys think of the Story so far. Maybe you should consider Following so you don't miss any new Chapters I post. And please enjoy the rest of your day.**

**Cursed:**

_Entry: After the three of us pushed our way through the ghost-infested tunnel, we eventually stumbled into Cursed Station. The Station's name was no accident. The people belonging to the Station seemed to be locked in an endless war for survival._

Everyone was quite happy to finally be out of the tunnels. Velvet had used up all of her stamina trying to simply outrun the Ghosts. Artyom had used up the large majority of his ammo on the few Mutants that inhabited the tunnel. Khan, he was just happy to stop having to relive one of his worst nightmares. But the Metro was not finished trying to stop the Stalker's journey.

As several loud gunshots became audible throughout the tunnel, Khan ordered Velvet and Artyom to quickly pick up the pace. ''Hurry,'' He said, his weapon now unholstered. ''The station is under attack again. We must go, the people will almost certainly need all the help they can get.''

Khan rushed towards the noise of worsening violence. Artyom, despite the fact that he had little to no ammo left, also drew his Weapon and followed behind Khan. Velvet followed both of the men, though unlike them she had no weapon in her hand to raise.

Around the corner of the tunnel through some makeshift alarms made from empty cans was quite the depressing sight to behold. Khan's guess that the Defenders gravely needed help was right, a little too right. Quite a lot of them were dead, and many of the dead were either mangled or just ripped into different pieces. The few who remained looked distressed, like they'd been there for several hours.

Corpses of Mutants were also present. Though there wasn't nearly as many as the previous Defender's. One of the few still breathing Guards pointed his gun towards the three new inhabitants. He only lowered it when he recognized Khan. ''Over here Khan. Please hurry'' The man cried out, his voice made him sound desperate for help.

''Have the Mutants started another attack?'' Khan asked, as alarms sounded off in the background. ''Yes,'' The man replied, taking a few seconds to catch his breath. ''The Mutants broke through the outer defenses. All of the other Survivors are here. But I don't think that they will be able to live and see another day.''

The man began to slowly lose his balance. His leg, or what was left of it was in a very critical state. Velvet and Artyom helped him sit down while Khan continued to question the man further. ''Tell me, where exactly did all of the Mutants come from this time?''

Nothing audible could be heard from the man, he was unable to speak due to the intense pain. ''Give me one of the Med-kits.'' Artyom instructed Velvet, making her reach into her bag and begin searching. She pulled out one of the small orange boxes and handed it to Artyom. He then took out a needle and injected it into the man's torn leg.

Now numb to the pain, the man told Khan his desired information. ''The monsters come from where they always do, the left tunnel. And this time from the crossing too. We sent a demolition squad there, but they never returned. There's no one else we could send.''

Spotting an ammunition box Khan walked over to the box and reached deep inside of it. He pulled out some shotgun as well as a little bit of rifle ammo. The last thing he removed was a grenade. The ammo was tossed to Artyom while the grenade was given to Velvet.

''Artyom, Velvet. I am not eager to see this station fall. I assume that neither of you are as well?'' The two looked to each other then back to Khan, they nodded. ''Good, then we must help them. Artyom, I want you to find what's left of the demolition squad, they had a bomb. Move it to the left tunnel then run as fast as you can. Velvet you are to deal with the crossing. We've buried it once before, but the nosalises must have dug through. Use that grenade to collapse the airlock. I will stay here with the survivors. If you have to lure the monsters back here. And please, do hurry.''

With the alarm bells still ringing, Artyom and Velvet hurried off to their objectives. The station's mutants took no time making attacks at the two. As always, Artyom's shotgun was effective at short-range combat. ''You still have my lighter?'' Artyom asked Velvet after he blew the head off of a charging nosalises. The mutant's blood sprayed all over Artyom, Velvet found it odd that he didn't seem alarmed by it.

''I... yes,'' Velvet responded, a little shaken from the grim sight. ''Yes I still have it. Why do you ask?'' Artyom reached for Velvet's grenade. He pointed out the fuse on the top. ''Once you ignite it, you only have a few seconds to run away from the blast. Six, or seven at most. Maybe I should tag along with you? It might be dangerous for you to go off on your own.''

''No, it's okay.'' Velvet said, taking back her grenade. ''If I remember correctly, I'm the one who saved you from those bandits.'' Artyom smirked. ''And if I remember correctly, I carried you all the way through their camp.'' Velvet laughed softly, then switched on the lighter. ''Come on,'' She said. ''We need to keep moving or the station will be overrun in seconds.'' Artyom nodded, then started towards where the demolition squad's last supposed location was.

The station was bright enough for Velvet to navigate her way through. She didn't find herself being attacked by the mutants. Many of them were after Artyom, whom was making a decent amount of noise now that he had some ammo to do so. Seeing some lighted stairs with some decent amount of carnage surrounding them, Velvet assumed it led to the crossing. She carefully walked up the stairs, not making a sound as she did.

When she reached the top, Velvet spotted the airlock. Next to it sat one single Nosalis, it strangely seemed to be guarding the airlock. Velvet went for her holster, but found that there was no gun in it. She groaned in annoyance, assuming that she lost it in the ghost tunnels.

There was a short metal pipe on the ground just inches away from the nosalis. At first Velvet tried to slowly reach for what could be a potential weapon. But the Mutant was able to catch her scent and charged towards her. It tackled her straight to the ground.

Velvet kicked the nosalis off of her, the jumped to the pipe. Grabbing it, she turned around and smacked the mutant in its face. It didn't go down, so Velvet kept on swinging. Eventually the pipe broke in half, each piece of it having a sharp-end.

The expression on Velvet's face changed to a worried one. Once again the Nosalis slammed Velvet to the ground, she groaned in pain. The mutant began to slash its claws at Velvet's chest, cutting her slightly. After she groaned in pain, Velvet once again kicked the nosalis off of her, then grabbed the sharpest piece of the pipe and jabbed it into the Mutant's eye. It let out a scream of pain before it finally fell to the ground dead.

Knowing that even more Nosalises were probably on their way, Velvet flipped open her lighter and ignited the Grenade's fuse. Placing it near the airlock's door, she practically jumped all the way down the stairs. As she did so, and explosion erupted from behind her.

Still breathing heavily, Velvet let out a sigh of relief. ''I'd start running if I were you!'' A familiar Russian voice shouted. Velvet turned to see Artyom, and he seemed to be in a hurry. Artyom continued to call out, ''I was able to place the bomb. It's going to explode any second now.''

Now fully understanding what kind of threatening situation they were in, Velvet did exactly as she was instructed. She began to charge towards Khan's current position. Because of her running speed it didn't take her long to catch up with Artyom. In fact she even manged to get ahead of him and reach the defense position first.

However Artyom was not so fortunate with his escape attempt. He wasn't killed or even hurt by the explosion. But because of all of the equipment that he carried including his armour, he was knocked to the floor by the strength of the blast.


	14. Parting Advice

**A/N: I completed a full playthrough of all of the Metro games once more. Now that I've had the opportunity to once again play through it, I'm beginning to realize that Exodus was a pretty big let down. At least it was for me. I understand that a lo of people loved it and some even consider it to be the best in the series. Its graphics are somehow both impressive and complete garbage. It doesn't really have that one of a kind appeal that the first two games do. Still, I'm going to have to buy the new Sam content when it finally gets released. **

**As always please leave me an honest Review so I know what you think of the Story so far. It doesn't have to be positive. Just make it your honest opinion. You could even leave me some advice on how I can improve the Story. You should consider Following so you'll be alerted whenever I happen to post a new Chapter. And if you really had a fun time reading, why not take a second to add the Story to your Favorites? This is another of what I'm going to start calling Mini-Chapters. Mostly because of how short it is. **

**Parting ****Advice:**

''You know you should always make sure your shoes are tied properly. Especially whenever you have to run away from a bomb. Never know when it might happen again.'' Velvet said whilst making fun of Artyom. Her traveling companion didn't exactly find the joke to be all that funny. Not long after the bomb detonated, which turned out to be more than enough to destroy the mutant inhabited tunnel along with a good portion of the mutants, Artyom was knocked on his ass by the gigantic blast wave.

It didn't really matter all that much though. They had both finished their jobs and the Station was once again safe. Well, safer would be a much more accurate word to use given the Station's known history. After Velvet helped Artyom back onto his feet he knelt down to take a quick look at his shoes. Even though they were untied, Velvet knew it wasn't the reason Artyom had toppled over in the first place. Still, she wasn't about to miss the opportunity to make a clever joke.

Khan began to slowly approach Velvet and Artyom. He easily gained their attention because of the massive bright light that was attached to his head. Seeing his Companions cover their eyes to avoid being blinded by the small version of the sun he quickly switched off the light.

''We won a big War at such a small Station.'' Khan said, unequipping his Rifle and placing it on his back. ''I'm afraid that I can no longer go any further with you two. The people here will still need my assistance. The tunnels are collapsed. The only way for you both to get to Polis now is to take a small detour. From here you can make your way to the Armory. Afterwords, you'll have to go through the Stations that are occupied by the Reds... and the Nazis.''

Hearing of the second faction name, Artyom's eyes widened. The stories his stepfather had told him of the Nazis frightened Artyom as a child. How they used men, women, and even children as target practice. How they killed anyone who wasn't part of the so called ''superior'' race. The Reds on the other hand, Artyom knew very little of. But in his mind if they were fighting the Nazis, they couldn't be that bad.

Velvet knew nothing of the two Factions, which only made Artyom jealous. As they say, ignorance is bliss. ''Come on,'' Khan said starting to slowly walk towards the no longer Mutant infested Station. After they made sure their equipment was where it should be, Artyom and Velvet began to follow. Only a few seconds after walking Velvet let out a yawn. It was not due to boredom, but instead tiredness. Neither her or Artyom had slept since they'd left Dry station.

''Who exactly are the Reds?'' Velvet asked after letting out another tired yawn. ''And I guess I should also ask who the Nazis are? I have a feeling that I don't want to know'' She also added as a part two to her question. She was quickly answered by an also tired Artyom.

''I know very little about the Reds.'' He said Little word of them has ever reached my Station. From what I've heard they're the most powerful organization in all of the Metro. They have so many men to waste that one time they supposedly sent hundreds of them unarmed towards the Frontlines of a battle just so they could be killed as a distraction.''

That was very shocking for Velvet to hear. She had never heard of something so pointlessly cruel before. But the idea didn't necessarily frighten her. A history lesson on the Nazis would. ''But, the Nazis on the other hand.'' Artyom said, thinking back to what his Stepfather had told him as a child.

''Stories of their atrocities still give me nightmares to this day. They have entire Facilities that only serve as Prisons. Even if just one Prisoner attempts to escape, they gas the rest of them. Even Women and Children are not safe from them and their cruel tactics. Prisoners who can't work are usually used as target practice. And if anyone even has the slightest sign of a Mutation.'' Artyom looked to Velvet's ears. ''They are immediately executed.''

Grabbing her ears, Velvet asked in a very frightened voice, ''Do... do you think that they might try to kill me? You know, because of my ears.'' Softly patting her on the back, Artyom reassured her that she was perfectly safe with his company.

''Don't you even start worrying about them. As long as you and I watch the other's back, we will get through this with no problems.'' Velvet did her best to put on a bit of a smile, but she couldn't manage to do it after hearing what she just did.

Snapping his fingers, Khan captured Velvet and Artyom's attention. ''The Smithy is an independent station.'' He said, kneeling down to a large and cracked hole in the wall. ''But the Reds will be quite the trouble. They are building what they call a new Society. When you two reach the Smithy look for a friend of mine. Andrew the Blacksmith, he will give you a hand.'' Khan lowered himself into the hole. The other Stalkers followed him in.

Within the newly discovered location was what appeared to be some sort of Shrine. Complete with decorative candles and a few eerie noises. ''It is a shrine to hope.'' Khan called it. ''We can never forget the things that make us human. Even if we are stuck in these dark times.''

Crouching down, Khan moved a few candles from a large metal slab. He then began to lift up the slab, revealing a rusted ladder. ''Here, this should be it. You can go on in Artyom, if you don't mind I'd like to have a word with Velvet alone.'' The Stalker stowed his gun on his back, nodded to Khan, then climbed the ladder down to the lower level. Now being only audible to Velvet, Khan spoke to her.

''Listen to me, Velvet.'' He said, somehow in a much more serious tone. It was even a little frightening to the Faunus. ''I can tell what kind of person you are, what kind of place you must have come from. There's no doubt that Artyom will need your guidance.''

Velvet wanted to speak but Khan quickly continued. ''And perhaps at some point, you will even need his. What he said about you two watching the other's back, I'd listen to that if I were you. Because it won't get any easier from here. Only harder and harder.''

Khan spoke much louder so that Artyom could actually hear him. ''Everything depends on both of you. And when I say that I do mean you two alone. Please, try your best to be as careful as possible.'' He turned back to Velvet. ''Do take very good care of him. From what I've seen he can be quite the fool.''

As a final goodbye, at least until they saw each other again, Khan knew they would at some point, Khan held out and offered his hand as a friendly gesture. She accepted it and smiled. ''Goodbye, Khan. And you have to relax. There's no reason for you to worry about us. It might not be my home but I'll do whatever I can to help Artyom save your people's. I always wanted to be a hero when I was a little girl. Maybe this will finally be my chance.''

Instead of using the ladder that was next to her, Velvet just jumped right down to the floor. She almost landed right on top of Artyom. Any closer and he would need a new neck. He actually found the small stunt to be quite the impressive one. He would have no doubt injured himself trying to pull off something like that. A fall like that would break both of his legs. Not that he was about to admit it to her.


	15. Armory

**A/N: I've started to play through Sam's story. It's actually pretty good. I'll leave an update here when I finish it. Still haven't even started Two Colonels yet. So I'm probably going to have to play that one next.**

**Update: My opinion hasn't really changed that much. I still think it's a pretty good DLC. Hell I'll go as far as to say it was far better than the main Story. Can't wait for any future Metro games and/or Books.**

**It made me think of how in Last Light there were all of those DLC missions. It also made me wonder if I could have these little separate or bonus Chapters just for them. But for now it's just a thought I had. Oh and as the Character description promises Ruby is going to make some sort of appearance at some point in the next Chapter. **

**As always please leave me an honest Review so I know what you guys think so far. I don't really care if it's positive or negative. I'd just really like to know what you guys think of what I've done so far. **

**You should also really consider Following the Story so you'll be alerted when I post any new Chapters. And if you really did enjoy reading this far maybe you could add my Story to your Favorites? **

**Chapter 15: Armory:**

''What exactly did you and Khan have to talk about back there?'' Artyom asked Velvet as they continued to traverse through the newly discovered tunnel. Understandably the Faunus couldn't really give Artyom the straight answer that he was looking for.

When they were still at the Cursed station Khan had pretty much called Artyom a somewhat of a ignorant young man. So instead of just telling him that and risk offending him she just settled on giving a response that was only about half of the actual truth.

''All he really did was give me some advice on surviving the dangers of the Metro. You know, the kind of things that relate to all of that paranormal stuff we saw in those old tunnels.'' She answered whilst waving her lighter around since Artyom's flashlight was slowly beginning to run out of juice.

That and there was little to no light in the tunnel. Velvet gestured the lighter towards Artyom, and asked, ''Are you sure you don't want this back? Seemed useful for dealing with all of those spiders. And not that I don't think it's pretty cool and all, but it being shaped like a bullet isn't really my thing.''

Before he could refuse to take back his property, Artyom's flashlight died. ''Der'mo!'' He cursed in Russian. Velvet gestured the lighter again, this time he decided to take it. ''Yeah, thank you.'' He said, after flipping the lighter on and shining it in front of himself.

''If we ever happen to go back to the Market, I might just have to get one of those universal chargers that all of the other Stalkers keep flashing around.'' He said, remembering one he spotted back at the Market. ''Because without my flashlight we have pretty much no light down here.''

Irony then played a factor, as light shinned its way into Artyom and Velvet's eyes. Accompanied by the light came a loud voice. Artyom couldn't be blamed for thinking the voice was God at first, even though he wasn't even religious. ''Halt!'' The voice shouted in the average Russian middle aged man tone.

''If either of you takes another step, we will open fire on you.'' That was enough to put Artyom on edge. Slowly adjusting his left arm and leg, he positioned himself so that he could easily reach for Hunter's Revolver before the men could shoot Velvet or him.

Luckily it wouldn't come to that. For a new, much more reasonable voice entered into the one-sided conversation. ''Loosen up, will you Alek?'' The new man said. He sounded much younger. ''Look at them, they're clearly human. Kill the light already, would you? Last guy who came here was blinded by you.'' The other man, now identified as Alek, spoke again. But not before taking a good look at Velvet, and more importantly, her ears. ''Well, I guess you both do look human. One of you more than the other, haha. Eh alright, come on in, this is a free station after all.''

A large wooden gate opened, inviting the two new travelers inside. Whispering, Velvet expressed her concerns to Artyom on their current situation. ''I don't think we should go in there. Didn't Khan say something about the Reds being all over the place? Maybe we could find another way, or just do anything else?''

Removing his belt holster, Hunter's Revolver still in it, Artyom attached it to Velvet's side and assured her of their safety. ''From what little Khan has told us about them. I'm guessing the Reds are the type of people who won't attack us, unless we attack them first. But, in case I'm wrong, keep this on you at all times. And whatever you do, don't lose this gun, it once belonged to a very dear friend of mine.''

Despite guns not really being her style, Velvet kept the weapon. Though she had major doubts she'd ever use it on someone. After they both walked through the gate. Artyom and Velvet were given a warning by one of the other present guards. ''You kids should be careful in there.'' He said to the two young Stalkers. ''Despite what people say, this isn't even a free station. The people here are always under the careful watch of the Reds. If you can try and stay below the radar.''

Seeing as it was their original intent to keep a low profile anyway, neither Stalker responded to the man. They kept on walking, until they reached a small metal staircase. Going up it led to what looked like a small storage room. An intercom placed on the wall sounded off. It talked of some sort of document inspection. Some of the station's inhabitants seemed to be in the middle of receiving inspections. A few of those trying to resist being beaten in response.

''Khan said to look for his friend named that goes by the Blacksmith. Where do you think we should start looking?'' Velvet asked. Artyom just continued to walk. He was in the middle of going over a few notes that he had taken earlier. Finishing, he gave his thoughts on the current situation. ''Whatever we do, we should try to keep a low profile. I don't want to be another victim of these inspections.''

Feeling someone tapping him on his shoulder, Artyom turned around to face them. It was a Red Soldier. He had an intrigued look on his face. Concerned, but even more confused, Artyom asked, ''Is there something that we can help you with, Sir?'' He switched to a startled face when the man raised his Machine gun to Artyom's head. Definitely not the best of first introductions.

''Why the need to keep a low profile around us? Either of you got something you need to hide?'' The Red asked, his gun still aimed directly at Artyom's head. His hands now in the air, Artyom didn't even get a chance to respond. The man continued to ask questions. ''Are you Nazis, undercover? Exactly what kind of business do you have here? And what the Hell is with those rabbit ears on that girl's head?''

Now actually able to talk, Artyom told the man, ''We're just a couple of Stalkers, Sir. We've traveled all the way from Dry station just to get here. We were kind of hoping for a more friendly arrival. As for my friend here. She's... not really from around here. Where she comes from it's normal to be born like that. Now, if you could please just let us pass, we'll be on our way.''

Artyom brought his hands back down to his sides, and attempted to walk past the Red. But was shoved back by him. He was then grabbed by the man. ''Not a chance I'm letting you two by.'' He said, while he wrestled with Artyom's arms. ''Especially if you're going to do something as stupid as trying to bring a mutant in here.''

Velvet lowered her ears, a little sad to hear the word mutant directed at her again. ''Don't you call her that!'' Artyom shouted to the Soldier. Velvet was a little shocked to see that someone actually standing up for her. The last time she was being bullied for her Faunus heritage, no one came to her aid. Artyom continued. ''Can you really compare her to all of the mutants out there? She looks just like any other human.''

The Red let go of Artyom, and approached Velvet. He took a few seconds to get a good look at her. Alarmingly, and suddenly he grabbed one of Velvet's ears. She gasped in response. ''Nope,'' The Red said laughing, an evil smile now planted on his face. ''She's definitely just another mutant that needs to be dealt with. And I think you know how we have to deal with mutants.''

Now squeezing tighter on Velvet's ear, the man pulled out a large knife, and pointed it at one of her eyes. ''We put them down like the disgusting animals they are.'' Velvet began to struggle with the man, looking over to Artyom for help. The Red placed his knife on Velvet's face. ''I'm sure the Nazis would be grateful if we'd hand you over. I know how they love to experiment on new creatures. Hell, they might even declare a truce if I were to deliver you.''

Finally, Artyom had enough of the man's shit. He reached for Velvet's side, and unholstered Hunter's Revolver. Pointing it to the Red's skull, Artyom had to try his hardest not to blow the asshole's head off. ''Back off!'' Artyom shouted. ''And drop the knife. Or I shoot your fucking brains all over the wall.'' Immediately his demands were met.

''Good.'' Artyom continued, his gun visibly shaking in his hand. ''Velvet get behind me, we're getting out of here now.'' Velvet didn't waste a second listening to Artyom. She wondered if he was just acting, or if he would really be able to shoot a man in cold blood. For now though her biggest concern was how they'd actually get out of the station without alerting anyone else in the area.

Waving his gun to the side, Artyom signaled for the man to turn around and face the wall. Not wanting him to alert any of his friends, Artyom smacked him across the head and he fell down to the floor unconscious. He handed the Revolver back to Velvet, who holstered it. ''We should go back through the gate.'' Velvet suggested, getting her bearings. ''We should start moving before anyone else shows up. Oh... and thanks for getting him to stop.''

''Don't mention it. That guy was a real asshole.'' Artyom said. He picked up the Red's Machine gun and took it for himself. ''Like I said before, we need to watch out for each another. Otherwise we won't be so lucky next time something like this inevitably happens. Especially since we haven't even encountered the Nazis yet. Now come on, let's get back to the gate.''

Before either of them could even move, the situation quickly went south. More Soldiers quickly stormed into the room, each of them having their weapon drawn. Obviously it would be difficult to explain things to them when the unconscious body of one of their friends is on the floor. There were about twenty men in total and they looked like they were eager to shoot something. Artyom was about to go for his new gun, but Velvet stopped him, grabbing his arm.

She yelled to him, ''Run!'' And that's exactly what they did. Three of the Soldiers started to charge them. Before Artyom could Pistol whip them, Velvet socked each of the men in the face. They all fell to the ground, while the two continued to run. Then the guns started shooting. Bullets came dangerously close to hitting either of them, but most of them just hit nearby boxes or the walls. A few unlucky individuals were struck by stray bullets. Thankfully no one was actually killed.

After rushing through an unoccupied hallway, Artyom slammed a metal gate shut so no reinforcements would be able to join in the chase. Then there was another hallway, this one actually containing people. The two of them had to crouch down to avoid being shot by the intense gunfire. They crawled on their knees until the shooting stopped. Either the Red's had ran out of ammo, or they had just given up. Turns out it was neither of those possibilities.

The Soldiers stopped shooting because there was nowhere left for the intruders to run to. The door up ahead was locked, chained up with multiple locks. Seeing no more need to even run, the Red's just walked to Velvet and Artyom's position. But upon reaching their location, the Soldiers discovered that they were nowhere in sight. They somehow vanished without a single trace.

God, if there is somehow still one in that world, is what was responsible for their escape. Only inches away from the Red's was Artyom and Velvet. Each of them doing their best to not make a sound. They were grabbed and yanked into a small room. The one doing so being none other than the very man they were looking for in the first place. Andrew the Blacksmith. When the coast was finally clear, he spoke to them.

''You've been here less than an hour and so much hell has already been stirred up.'' Andrew said, checking the coast once more. ''Khan was never the best at making responsible friends. I didn't think he was telling the truth when he said one of you had very... distinguishing features. But anyway, Khan told me why you're here, so I won't keep you any longer than I have to. Best we get you two out of here as soon as possible, after all you're both fugitives now.''

Andrew pulled out two chairs and offered his new friends a seat. Having been on their feet for the entire day, Artyom and Velvet accepted them. Andrew began to formulate a plan to get them out of the Communist station. ''The only way you two are getting out of here is if you go straight through the battlefield. He said, opening up a cabinet. It's the front line between the Reds and the Nazis. You'll have to look the part. Obviously that will be a little harder for one of you. If I were you I'd just stay out of sight.''

He gave each of them a pair overalls, telling them to put them over their clothes. Andrew continued. ''The Reds are gathering up unlucky volunteers to storm the Nazis defenses. They're sending an entire train full of new recruits right into the fire. You'll be riding the train unannounced. Your seats won't be first class, but unlike everyone else you won't have to pay with your blood. Once you pass the roadblocks you're on your own. Follow me, I'll take you to the train now.''

Now fully dressed in their new attire, the Stalkers followed Andrew out of his home. There were several heavily armored men in the area. Some of them whispered to one another on how excited they were to head to the front line. How someone could be excited about killing another person was something Velvet couldn't understand. Artyom however had a much better understanding on human nature. And how bloodthirsty they could really be.

''Okay, stop here.'' Andrew said, walking up to a few other individuals. He spoke to them. ''It's alright, these two are with me. And don't ask about her ears. Because I couldn't answer even if I wanted to.'' The men didn't really say anything, they just nodded. Walking over to a small train cart, they moved it, revealing a hole with a ladder. ''Jump in the hole.'' Andrew said, pulling out a few smokes and passing them out to his friends.''

Immediately Artyom jumped in, eager to get on with the mission, while Velvet was understandably skeptical at first. But with more Soldiers turning up in the area, she eventually followed Artyom in, only she actually used the ladder. The cart was then put back in place over them, so that they would not be seen. Andrew gave his final instructions. ''Climb into the luggage hold. It's not exactly made for people so it might be cramped.''

This time Velvet was the first to enter. They had to squeeze close together, Artyom getting a few splinters in his arm on the wooden floor. The cart began to move slowly, Andrew and his friends pushing it. One of them asked Andrew, ''Are you sure it's safe for them in there, Andrew? I'd hate to see them fall onto the rails. And if they do stay, they're heading right for Lubianka. So aren't they kind of dead either way?''

The question made Velvet's eyes widen. She wasn't exactly to become red paint on the tracks. ''Hey, it'll be fine.'' Artyom said, going over his ammo and weapons for the second time of the day. ''You need to stop thinking ahead so much. As stupid as it sounds, sometimes you should just let all these things happen. You'll be less dissapointed that way.'' Velvet thought Artyom was right, in that it did sound stupid. In fact it sounded beyond the very definition of stupid.


	16. Frontline

**A/N: Ah yes, we've arrived at the Frontline. This is one of my most favorite Chapters in all of the Metro series. I wanted to get this out much sooner, but I have a lot of other things that require my attention. **

**That's especially true seeing as I'll be starting another project soon. Speaking of which, if you're a fan of the Resident Evil series and RWBY, which I assume you are seeing as you're reading this particular story, you should totally check it out. **

**Now, as I promised Ruby will appear towards the end of this Chapter. If you think I should add in anymore of the characters from RWBY feel free to PM me or let me know in a Review.**

**As always I think that you should leave me a Review so I can get your opinions. Please consider Following so you'll be alerted when I publish a new Chapter. And if you really enjoy what you've read so far you can even Favorite the Story. **

**Chapter 16: Frontline**

_Artyom's Entry: Even after the passing of the same war that turned the world into the hell it is today, we never stopped killing each other over different ideologies. Velvet and I were about to go through the front line between both the Nazis and the Communists. Not long ago my Stepfather once told me of a previous war where the two sides fought. Apparently the Nazis lost that one._

During the large portion of the cart ride, the Communist Soldiers loudly shared songs in the Russian language with one another. Velvet and Artyom couldn't exactly ask the men to stop their singing. Seeing as if they did the consequences would most likely be very fatal. As the cart came closer to its destination, the men stopped singing. Velvet was able to hear them loading their weapons. From what she was able to make out, the Reds had some serious firepower.

They'd soon get to see the firepower firsthand. But for now trouble made an entrance. With all the damage the cart had taken on the way to the front line, it was practically starting to break apart. The bottom of the transportation car, which currently houses our two friends, was the first to go. The wood planks beneath the Stalkers began to snap in half. If they would've fallen under, there's no doubt they'd be sliced in half.

Lucky Artyom reacted quickly to the situation and insured their survival. He pushed Velvet, who only just now became aware of the problem, off of the cart and onto the right side of the tracks. He then threw himself to the other side. After hitting the ground, and now having a few small scratches on his arms as well as a bloody nose, Artyom quickly ran to where Velvet landed to make sure she was alright.

To his surprise Velvet was already up and appeared to have taken no considerable damage. Velvet smirked and said, ''The trick is to duck and roll just before you land.'' She had to avoid laughing to loudly since they were still in enemy territory. Artyom used his shirt to get the blood off of his nose.

''Da, you're welcome for the push.'' He said, moving closer to Velvet. He reached into one of her pockets and pulled out the lighter. He picked a random spot on the ground and ignited a homemade cigarette. He tossed the lighter back to Velvet, who after catching it took a seat next to him.

She reminded Artyom about the dangers of smoking. ''Something tells me we're going to need all the stamina we have if we want to reach Miller.'' She said, trying to avoid the smoke emitting from the cigarette. ''You sure it's a good idea to be smoking?''

The question was a dumb one in the eyes of Artyom. Everyone he knew eventually started smoking at one point in their. It wasn't necessarily from addiction, but because there wasn't much else to do in order to pass time in the Metro.

After finishing his cigarette, Artyom tossed it into the darkness of the tunnel and began to stand up. He only made it half way up before he was stopped by an orange box hitting his head. It gave him a large headache but on the bright side he wasn't bleeding.

''Proklyat'ye!'' Artyom began to curse while pain moved around inside his head. Velvet looked to the small container, that was now open. She spotted what looked like binoculars. But upon further inspection she realized they were actually night vision goggles. She handed them to Artyom.

''Here, you should take these.'' She said, handing him the pair of goggles. For a split second Artyom wondered what good binoculars would do him. Then he also realized what they really were. ''Now you don't have to worry about recharging your flashlight or alerting people with it.''

''Yeah, but what about you?'' Artyom asked, no longer stuck on the floor. ''How exactly are you suppose to see and make your way through the dark? As you can might have noticed, throughout the Metro there isn't a great deal of lighting.''

Velvet remembered that Artyom, along with everyone else in the Metro, and probably the entirety of Moscow, you know what she was probably on a completely different World all together so you can just add everybody, didn't know what a Faunus was. As well as the special abilities that many of them possessed.

''Well, besides my excellent hearing I was also born with natural night vision.'' Velvet started, waiting for Artyom to finish putting on the goggles before continuing ''It's just one of the many perks of being a Faunus. Or at least that's what I think.''

It was something that Artyom found to be pretty cool. Almost as though it was some kind of superpower. Velvet wanted to keep the conversation going, but Artyom was growing ever so impatient. He began to slowly walk towards the tunnel's exit. The sound of gunfire, yelling, and small explosions were becoming more and more audible.

Eventually the two Stalkers came to the same cart that had brought them to the front line. The only person in it was an Officer, everyone else was most likely engaging in battle. The Officer shouted what was supposed to be inspiration to his men. But all it really sounded like was half threats and nonsense.

When crossing between a war zone, stealth is almost always the most preferable option. Which is why the two Stalkers stayed in a crouched down position. To give them an extra edge Artyom had only his throwing knives equipped. Velvet hoped that he wouldn't be forced to use them on anybody.

For for the first few minutes of sneaking, nothing very notable happened. It wasn't until they were half way through the mess, that Velvet and Artyom came across a complex situation. Ahead there were a few Reds pointing their guns at what looked like an unarmed Nazi Soldier.

Artyom's logical over moral instincts told him that they should just ignore the scene and instead try their best at sneaking past all of the Soldiers. But it was Velvet's who told her to do the exact opposite. And it would be her's that would win.

''We have to try to help that Soldier.'' She whispered as quietly as she could into Artyom's left ear. ''They're going to try to execute him. I think that if we could just get a little bit closer both of us could take out one of the guards at the same time.''

''That is not going to happen. If we get caught we'll just get shot along with them.'' Artyom responded, his expression not changing at all. ''Besides, they're just another Nazi. If you ask anyone they'll tell you that the less in the World the better. I think the same way.''

Velvet decided she wasn't going to be taking no for an answer. ''Look, either you help me save that Nazi or I'm just going to try to do it it by myself. And since there's two of those Reds guarding him that might be a little difficult for me to do.''

After hearing Artyom groan, Velvet knew she had won. But the situation didn't play out like she had hoped. Knocking the Reds out is what she wanted. But instead Artyom ended things quickly. He threw two of his throwing knives at the men. One went straight into one of the Soldier's heads. The other found itself in the throat of the other.

Looking back at Velvet, Artyom saw that she now had a shocked and slightly horrified expression on her. He felt kind of bad. But then again they only had so much time to reach Miller. Artyom went to the bodies. ''Who the hell is this?'' Artyom said upon seeing who he had believed to be a Nazi.

Getting up, Velvet checked why Artyom was so surprised. But she soon shared the same feeling. She had never seen them before, but Velvet was certain that Nazis don't look like 15 year old girls who like to wear black and red dresses.

''My God, Ruby!'' Velvet shouted as loud as the Gods allowed her to. When she did shout she probably didn't intend to alert all of the nearby stationed Nazis and Reds. And starting from there the excitement and danger would only continue.


	17. Keep Moving

**A/N: Man, you guys have no idea how great it is to have another RWBY character in the story. Still haven't made a decision about adding anymore of them or not. I'm worried that if I do it's going to take a lot of attention off of Velvet and Artyom's relationship. That of course is the main focus of the Story. **

**Please feel free to leave your own opinion on what you think would be the wiser choice. And I'm real sorry if you were hoping to see a little bit of Trolley Combat. You're just going to have to wait until I release the next Chapter. **

**That on its own may take some time since I want to work on the second Chapter of 'Mailman of Hope'. Which has been a long time coming. If it makes those of you eager to finally be able to read it feel better, it's going to be over 16,000 Words.**

**Cough-Cough you might also want to check that out if you like Death Stranding and Far Cry 5. As always if you have the time for it please leave me an honest Review so I know what you think of the Story so far. I don't care if it's positive or negative. I simply want the truth. Consider Following the Story so you're alerted when I post any new Chapters. And maybe give it a spot in your Favorites if you really enjoyed.**

**Update: I completely scrapped that Story and I have no intentions on bringing it back. But if you ever get the chance you absolutely have to play Death Stranding. I can't stress it enough, that game is one of the best that came out that year. Far Cry 5 is mediocre at best. As is most things involving Ubisoft. **

**Keep Moving:**

_Artyom's Entry: As it would turn out Velvet was not the only one who mysteriously vanished from her own world and somehow managed to end up in mine. I feel bad for the both of them. As we were sneaking past the Nazis and Communists she spotted one of her friends. My guess is that they both attended this Academy that Velvet won't stop talking about. _

_No matter what their relationship is it came this close to getting all of us killed. As soon as she spotted the girl named Ruby she screamed her name to all of the Metro because she was damn excited. Next thing I knew the three of us were running away from the Nazis as they began to shoot their red hot lead at us._

_I swear Miller better have an entire army of men waiting for me at Polis. Otherwise this whole trip will just be one big waste of time. I guess the three of us could always try attacking the Dark Ones by ourselves. At best we would get a few kills in before they'd slaughter us like pigs. _

_Hopefully Hunter died that way. The taking a few of them down part anyway. Maybe he had a quick and painless death? Or maybe the Dark Ones drove him insane and made him shoot himself. As resilient as he is I don't think even he could have resisted their powers for long._

Running was not something that Artyom was entirely used to. Growing up in a rather small Station for the majority of his life, he never had that many opportunities to test his agility skill set. What he did have time to do was learn how to shoot most of the weapons that he was able to get his hands on at such a young age. Velvet found herself in the exact opposite situation. The newest follower, Ruby Rose knew how to run and properly shoot. However she didn't exactly have any weapons on her person.

In the end all three of them had no other choice but to run for the other side of the Frontline while Artyom did his best to cover them all with his Revolver and Bastard. As you can probably guess he was unable to hit anything that he aimed for. This was partly due to the Bastard's awful accuracy, but mainly because of the fact that he was still running.

The three of them were also fortunate when it came to the bullets that were being fired at them. Velvet was the one to suffer the most close calls. Her ears weren't exactly a target that were hard to miss. Luckily for her Artyom noticed this and increased his rapid firing. This was enough to turn him into the target most Nazis focused their attention on.

After what felt like hours of nothing but running and gunning, even though it was less than five minutes, the three runners were able to reach what looked to be a safe location. At least it would be until the Nazis would ultimately catch sight of them again. But for now they were all at least able to catch some of their breath.

As she would frequently do in her own respected world, Ruby Rose started a conversation with Velvet. Only this time she tried to keep it as quiet as possible. ''Who... the heck were those guys?'' She said, having to take several deep breaths as she spoke. She sat herself on the ground as her legs were beginning to feel like they would explode or turn into jelly. Hell maybe they would implode then explode. Not a pretty picture to think about.

''They hit me pretty... good on the head.'' She continued while being eager to drink any type of liquid that was offered to her. ''They told me that such a small child shouldn't be carrying around such a dangerous and odd weapon type.'' She began to look pretty sad and tears began to form in both of her eyes. ''They took Crescent Rose away from me. Can you believe they'd do that to me, Velvet, and...?''

Ruby paused one more time. This time it wasn't because she was desperately trying to breathe, instead because she was curious about Velvet's strange choice of company. ''Who uh... Who's your new friend there, Velvet?'' Much like Velvet was when she first saw him, the little Rose was a little freaked out by Artyom's odd choice of attire. As well as his overwhelming stature compared to her own.

Turning to one of the only friends that she had throughout her journey across the Metro and the irradiated surface of Moscow, Velvet began to make an introduction for Artyom. She would do her best to not make him sound like a weirdo. ''Well, Ruby, this is my friend Artyom. He's been watching over me and helping-''

''If you don't mind Velvet, I'd like to be the one to give a rundown on who I am?'' Despite asking her, Artyom did not wait for an answer. ''Like she said, my name is Artyom. I come from one of the smaller Stations a long way from here. I have special orders to contact Colonel Miller at Polis Station in order to deal with the ever worsening Dark Ones situation.'' Before he continued Artyom wrapped his arm around Velvet. ''Velvet here has been kind enough to accompany me on the way there. Now, normally I'm against trusting people I've just met. But any of friend of Velvet's, is a friend of mine.''

Velvet's face became filled with a good amount of red just seconds after Artyom placed his arm around her. Letting go of her, the fellow Stalker extended his hand forward as a polite gesture to Ruby. Now knowing that he was a friend, Ruby gladly accepted it.

''That's good to hear.'' Ruby said, she began to stand herself up. ''I've only been stuck in this place for maybe two hours. The whole time everyone I've met has been a total jerk. Especially those guys that we just ran away from. Who are they anyway?''

Her ears picking up distant footsteps, Velvet grabbed Ruby's hand and gave her a quick answer. ''They're going to kill us if we don't get out of here right now. Artyom, how are you doing on bullets? Think you have enough to still cover us?''

Artyom knew that his Bastard was well out of ammo. It had overheated so many times he was sure the gun would explode in his hand and take it right off. Checking Hunter's Revolver he found that it now only had three bullets left in the chamber.

He gave a half serious, but mostly joking response. ''Well, I still have three good shots left. We could always just use them to kill ourselves. I have no doubt that it would at least be better than the things the Nazis would do if they manage to capture us.''

Obviously that didn't put Velvet or Ruby at ease. In fact it only did the opposite. After Ruby fell back to the ground and placed her face in her hands, Artyom regretted making what he thought was a joke appropriate for their current situation.

After giving him a look that said, ''Not cool dude.'', Velvet sat down next to her friend. After patting her on the head she did her best to reassure her of their safety. ''Don't worry about a thing, Ruby. It won't be that much further until we reach Polis Station. Once we do Colonel Miller will make everything better for us. He might even be able to find you and me a way back home. Isn't that right, Artyom?''

''Oh, um. Yeah, yeah that's exactly right, Velvet. I've heard incredible stories about Miller. My Stepfather always speaks the highest of him.'' After helping Ruby stand back up, Artyom continued. ''I'm sure that he is resourceful enough to find you a way back home. Now let's get moving you two. We shouldn't waste anymore time.''

Next Artyom offered his hand to help Velvet up. She refused it and began to stand up on her own. As she did she heard a Cracking noise. Looking forward again she was forced to quickly move out of the way. Artyom had fallen to the ground.

The people responsible pointed their guns at the Huntresses. As to be expected they wore Nazi clothing. If she had her Crescent Rose Ruby would've cut down the men right then and there. But she was still unarmed, and not in any mood to get her head blown off. So she put her hands in the air.

However instead of surrendering, Velvet tended to her now wounded friend. ''Artyom!'' She said, kneeling down next to her fellow Stalker and checking for his pulse. He was bleeding from his head, but the groans of pain let her know that he was at least alive.

''You shouldn't worry about wasting time.'' One of the Nazis said with a sadistic grin on his face. ''The way I see it is that we have all the time in the World. Little red one, did you really think you could escape that easily? After what you did to our friends!''

Standing up and looking back over to Ruby, who no longer had her hands up in the air, but instead look embarrassed. Velvet asked her a new question. ''I thought that you got here just a few hours ago? What the heck are they talking about, Ruby?''

An embarrassed look appeared on Ruby's face. ''Well, uh.'' She began, not quite knowing what to say. ''When I first got here I ended up at one of their nearby Camps. Now I'd just like to clarify that what happened next was in no way my fault whatsoever. While I was going up to say hello to them, I may have accidentally knocked over a crate of those fire Grenades into the Camp's fuel storage. But like I said, it wasn't my fault. You all just overreacted.''

All of the Nazi's jaws dropped to the floor. The leader of the small pact shouted, ''Fucking overreacted!'' Then he raised his Shotgun to the girls. He had clear intent to gun them both down. ''I'll show you the real definition of overreacting right now!''

Expecting death, both Velvet and Ruby covered their eyes. As they expected multiple shots were fired, three of them to be exact. ''Ah!'' Ruby shouted, thinking that she was now in the land of the dead. ''They were all lying! There's nothing, NOTHING!''

Unlike Ruby, Velvet's actions were a little more sensible. She removed her hands from her face and she was a little more than just surprised. All of the Nazis were dead on the floor. And Ruby was still wondering why she didn't get to go to Heaven. ''I've been a good girl Santa!'' She shouted. Yeah I don't really understand that much about the art of Religion. So, yeah.

''Ugh, would you just relax?'' Artyom rhetorically asked, his head still full of what would most likely be hours of pain. ''Velvet, would you be kind enough to please help me up. That bastard's... well Bastard took all of the energy out of me.'' He laughed at his own joke, despite how much pain it added on.

Quickly going back down to the ground, Velvet helped the injured Russian up on his feet. After Ruby finally realized that she wasn't dead, she also assisted him with walking. Seeing an opportunity to also arm herself, she grabbed one of the Soldier's Shotguns.

Alarmingly to Velvet, Artyom reached his hand deep inside of her jacket. And the red soon returned to her face. ''Really Artyom, in a place like this!'' Ruby scolded his actions. ''Now is not the time to be playing the Mom and Dad game.''

The only response either of them got from Artyom was a great look of confusion. After removing his hand from the jacket he waved a Med-Kit that he had picked up from the Market. ''Oh.'' Ruby said, embarrassed and feeling like a huge idiot as she scratched the back of her head. ''Yeah, I guess that does make a lot more sense. So, where do we go now? More importantly how do we get home?''


	18. Vanilla Combat

**Disclaimer: Due to the violence of this particular Chapter I'm putting a Disclaimer. Which is why it says Disclaimer. I wish I was funny. That doesn't mean that the rating is going to change however. Just with this Chapter.**

**A/N: Yeah that's right, we're going to completely skip Trolley Combat and replace it with something else. Why, some of you might ask. It's because I have a very deep hatred for that Mission. But worry not, you'll still get to see our friends fighting against the Nazis in a glorious battle to the death. Because in the end that's what our purpose is. Why is this Chapter called Vanilla Combat? **

**Because it's just Ordinary Combat. But that doesn't mean it won't be epic. Also I'm sorry for my absence. And even sorrier with how short this Chapter is. Hopefully I'm meeting the standards of Quality over Quantity. Ave, true to Caesar!**

**Chapter 18: Vanilla Combat:**

_Entry: Despite being slowed down for the second time in just an hour, we're continuing to move towards our destination. My head is still hurting like Hell, I might be suffering from a concussion. I really hope that's not the case though. We'll need all our strength if we're to make it even close to-_

''Hey, guy with funny voice. Sorry I forget your name.'' Ruby, who was searching around for a weapon to substitute for her Crescent Rose, shouted over to Artyom. ''How much longer will it be until we get to this Miller guy? It feels like we've been walking for hours now.''

Ironically they had been walking for less than five minutes. Artyom sighed and placed his diary aside. ''I don't have an accurate answer for you, Ruby.'' Artyom told her. ''We might be a few days away. Or maybe they're right around the corner. To me it doesn't make that much of a difference. I made a promise to Hunter and I intend on keeping that promise. Now give me a second, I have to finish writing.''

Artyom reached over to his side to grab his notebook, but discovered that it had vanished. Not far from his position was Velvet, who was now reading the diary. The Faunus girl chuckled, reading a few of the older pages Artyom had written when he was much younger.

''I never picked you as the romantic type, Artyom.'' She said, tossing his book back to him. ''I can't believe you wrote a five page poem for that girl. That is so sweet. But I also can't believe that after that she turned you down.''

The young Russian frowned and pocketed his journal. ''I think I'll just have to finish this entry another time. And please don't go through my personal belongings again. It's why they are called personal belongings in the first place.''

Velvet laughed. ''It won't happen again, I promise.'' She said. ''So, how do you think we should proceed. Maybe one of us moves forward and scouts ahead for danger? Or perhaps we should all stay together? I think it would be much safer that way.''

Not wanting to get another surprise hit to the back of his head, Artyom opted for the first option. ''No, I think I should go see what's waiting for us down there. The last thing we want is to be captured by the Nazis. That and shot to death. Which now that I thing about it, that would probably happen anyway.''

A reminder of the Reich's brutality put Velvet on the cautious side again. She tried to put the thoughts of what Artyom and the Blacksmith had told her of them. ''Are you sure? Remember, you wasted all your ammo back there. If you get attacked you'll be defenseless. Maybe you should take one of us with you?''

The male Stalker pulled out his knife and shook his head. ''There's no point in putting us all in harm's way.'' Artyom looked over to Ruby, who was still desperately trying to find a good Melee based weapon. He whispered into Velvet's ear, which now had a small scar on it. ''And between you and me, I don't think the Red one has the brightest of minds.''

Trying to conceal any laughter, Velvet covered her mouth. But after seeing Artyom doing the same thing, they both broke out into laughter. ''Hey, what's so funny?'' A nearby Ruby Rose asked the two.

After both of them stopped laughing, Artyom began to move out. But not before giving the young girl an answer. ''Just talking about plans for the future. I'm going to make sure the coast is clear. Hopefully I'll be back soon.

Checking his equipment one last time before he left, Artyom found that his arsenal was less than pathetic. He had a few throwing knives left, three good Med-kits, and his Combat knife. He knew that once again he would have to utilize stealth.

He received an encouraging nod from Velvet. Afterwords he vanished into the darkness. ''I'm sure that he can handled himself.'' Ruby said. She decided that nothing could ever replace her Crescent Rose. ''In fact I'd go as far as to call him a badass. But don't tell Yang I used that word.''

Sitting down Velvet assured Ruby that she was no snitch. ''Don't worry, I understand the rules of snitches and stitches by now. Speaking of stitches, when we get back to Beacon I'll probably need a few.''

Of course Velvet was referring to her injuries. Mainly the one on her leg that had almost gotten her and Artyom killed many hours prior. Ruby let out a gasp when she saw her friend's injuries. ''Oh my God, did someone shoot you?''

''No, it wasn't anything like that.'' She had to think back to when they were on the surface with Bourbon to remember what really happened. ''In fact it was my own fault that it happened. I think it was some type of bomb made out of nails and wire. A guy we were traveling with named Bourbon noticed I could barely walk and threatened to leave me behind. So Artyom just picked me up and carried me through a Bandit camp. If it wasn't for him I'd be dead for sure. It's the other way around too.''

Ruby giggled. ''Aw, it sounds like you two really like each other.'' Would you look at that, Velvet is blushing again. ''What, no! It's nothing like that.'' She said in a very defensive way. ''I just wanted to help him after I saw the state his home is in. There's nothing romantic going on between us.''

''Oh don't worry Velvet. I totally believe you. 100%. Wink.'' For some odd reason Ruby winked after that. Which wasn't a very necessary action. That annoyed Velvet, who both sighed and frowned.

Next it was her turn to ask a few questions. ''You said that you've only been here for a few short hours, right? Could you tell me the last thing you remember before you ended up here? It might help us figure out a way back.''

Despite feeling like she had suffered from a serious concussion, Ruby was able to remember the last time she was on Remnant. ''It was my Team and JNPR. I think we were watching Coco duel with... I forget her name. Pretty sure it's another word for Mailman though. After that everything is just one big blur. I ended up in some dark tunnel and stumbled across those Nazi guys. You already know how that ended. Sorry, I know that's not much help.''

Velvet patted her on the shoulder. ''No, it's okay. It does make me wonder something. If the two of us ended up here, doesn't that mean that all of our friends might be here too? Maybe we could find some of them on the way to Miller.''

In excitement Ruby jumped up from the ground. ''Do you really think so? That would be great, with all of us together we'd be more than unstoppable. As soon as your Boyfriend gets back we're moving as fast as possible.''

Frowning and sighing once again, Velvet made an attempt to reassure Ruby of her relationship status. ''I'll say it again. There's nothing going on between me and...'' Before his name could be spoken, Artyom appeared out of the shadows. For some reason he looked like he was running for his life.

''Well speak of the Devil.'' Ruby said to Velvet, smirking as she did. ''How about we just ask him? Artyom, are you and Velvet...'' The question would have to be saved for later. Because the shadows soon revealed other inhabitants. Ones that looked less than friendly. ''Great, he brought some new friends back.''

Knowing what was about to come next, Velvet threw herself and Ruby behind a destroyed cart for cover. To the left of that was a small pile of debris. The amount of cover it provided was small. But in a situation where you're being showered with bullets, you can't be too picky.

As previously stated, all of the Team's ammo was exhausted more than an hour ago. So like their ancestors before them, they had to improvise. Artyom was the first to make an attack against the Nazis. He pulled what few throwing knives he had left out and threw them at the enemy. They all ended up going into the exact same Soldier. Entering his left eye, heart, and deep into his head. The man fell to the ground dead.

Artyom then set his eyes on the Soldier right next to the fallen. He was distracted with having to wipe his friend's blood out of his eyes. Having the perfect opportunity, Artyom lunged forward and jabbed the blade into the man's chest. Blood began to pour out of his mouth. Realizing that he was going to die, he spat some of his blood on his killer's face. He became another corpse on the ground.

Before Artyom could select another target, Velvet and Ruby rushed ahead. It was quite the sight for the Russian Stalker to see fully grown armed men getting their asses kicked by young girls. Unlike him however they didn't use any weapons.

That was until one of the Nazis pushed Ruby to the ground and began to swing a Machete at her. She looked around for a weapon and settled on one of the dead men's Machine guns. She put three rounds into each of the man's legs. When he fell to his knees she smacked him across the face with the butt of her weapon. Now there was only two Soldiers left to deal with.

Velvet would be the one to deal with them. She grabbed Artyom's knife and began to beat the men with the handle. She was able to quickly knock two of them unconscious, but the third was clearly skilled in hand to hand combat.

He dodged all of her attacks and made one of his own. He took tight hold of Velvet and brought her in close. Then with all his might he headbutted her right in the nose. This time she was the one to fall to the ground. As blood pouted out of her nose, the Nazi pulled out his knife and intended on finishing the job.

But he was quickly interrupted. ''Ublyudok!'' Artyom shouted before tackling the man to the ground. Taking the Soldier's knife, Artyom now had two of them. And he meant to use both of them. He plunged one into each of the man's eyes. Only unlike the first kill, he didn't die instantly. Hearing the terrifying screams of the man Velvet covered her ears. Ruby tried to stop Artyom. ''What the heck are you doing? You need to stop that you're scaring Velvet!''

With the last member of the Reich dealt with, the knives were pulled out of the corpse's eyes. Artyom let out a heavy sigh and turned to look at his Faunus companion. She had a horrified expression on her.


	19. Safe At Last

**A/N: I've just started my third Playthrough of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. I'm doing this for the sole reason that I miss my second favorite Waifu. The first is Tali. But let's move on to the topic of this Chapter.**

**Just like the last one I'm not following the main 2033 Missions. I wanted to do one more original Chapter before our friends finally get to meet Miller. That and I wanted to write about more Nazis getting killed. Even though none get killed in this Chapter.**

**I'll be focusing on my most recent Story 'Outer Effect' more from now on. I'm still going to get more Chapters out as soon as possible, but I'm going to devote more of my time to that Story. Just for awhile though.**

**Also I have an important question for you guys. Do you want me to actually ship Artyom and Velvet? I was just planning on having them stay friends with the occasional Romantic moment occurring. If you'd like to see them together either leave a Review or PM me and I'll respond.**

**This is the last piece of information I promise. I'm going back to the older Chapters and editing and in someways improving them. If you want to see the differences for yourselves go and check them out. **

**Now as always, please leave an honest Review, consider Following the Story so you're alerted when I release a new Chapter, and if you really like the Story so far you could Favorite it to let me know. Have yourself a nice day.**

**Safe At Last:**

_Entry: Our most recent encounter with the Nazis proved to come with an ending that was more than sorrow. After I killed all of those men in the horrific way that I did I felt in many ways disgusted with myself. Maybe it was because I practically brutalized a few of them. Or maybe it was the look on Velvet's face. _

_That look of absolute horror. I'm afraid that she thinks I'm some type of monster now. Someone who kills another without a second thought. I can't lie to myself, I'm b__eginning to wonder the same thing. This Metro eventually turns everyone into a killer. But I can't let it do the same to me._

Using his canteen filled with clean water, Artyom washed what little blood was left on his clothing off of him. None of it was his own blood of course, he hadn't been injured at all during the fight with the Nazis. Neither had Velvet or Ruby so they were all able to move out quickly.

There was an uncomfortable amount of silence between the two Stalkers and Ruby Rose. None of them were really looking for a conversation after what had just happened. Artyom wanted to ask Velvet if she was mad at him but his gut told him not to.

Meanwhile Velvet was still trying to forget the faces of the dying men, and the sound of some of them choking to death on their own blood. She desperately wanted the mission to be over with. For them to reach Miller as soon as possible. She just wanted to go home and forget about all of this.

The lack of talking was beginning to bother Ruby. Despite knowing that it would be better not to do so, she struck up a conversation. She said to Artyom, ''I'm glad you're here with us. I don't think me and Velvet could've taken those guys on our own. Well I could, if I actually had my weapon. But you know, thanks.''

Artyom nodded and tried to thank her back. ''At least we wouldn't have butchered them like Grimm.'' But he stopped when he heard Velvet. She continued to scold his actions as they walked through the Metro. ''You could've easily knocked him out from that position. Why did you have to kill him?''

All of a sudden Ruby wished she hadn't said a word. ''Because they would've gladly done the same to all of us.'' Artyom said in his defense. ''They're Nazis remember, they are without a doubt the worst people to ever walk the Metro. And if I were just to have knocked them out, they would have just found someone else to kill. I did the World a favor killing all of those Bastards.''

Ruby sighed, knowing that the argument had only just begun. ''Killing them was bad enough. But it was the way you killed them. It was completely unnecessary. Stabbing both of his eyes out, who does something like that?''

''Alright, alright. I admit, I went a little too far when I did that. Not even a Nazi deserves a death as painful and awful as that. But it wasn't my fault that things got out of control. I was just filled with so much anger.''

Velvet stopped dead in her tracks. She looked at Artyom dead in the eyes. ''You were angry, that's the best excuse you can come up with? What exactly could have made you so angry that you wanted to stab a man's eyes out?''

Frowning, Artyom replied, ''Because I was upset from how badly he injured you.'' Velvet's and even Ruby's eyes widened. ''Did it not occur to you that I actually care about you as a person? That I think of you as a friend and not just a bullet-sponge. Did I not make it fucking clear when I was about to shoot a guy who grabbed your ears and called you a Mutant?! Because if not, I'm sorry. Guess it was just me.''

That was certainly enough yelling for Artyom. He walked away from his two Companions, leaving them with their own thoughts, and continued down the path of the dark Metro tunnel. Neither of them knew how to feel, so they hurried up and just chased after him.

''Wait, Artyom.'' Velvet called out to who she was now absolutely certain was her friend. However Artyom didn't wait for them to catch up, not wanting to start another argument. It didn't really matter since they were running and he was walking.

Going around so that she was in front of him Velvet continued to speak. ''I admit that there were times when I thought you hated me. I mean when we first met you'd only answer my questions by saying yes. But the whole time I really wanted us to be friends. I still think that what you did was wrong. But if you really did that because you just wanted to protect me, I guess I can try to look past that.''

All of a sudden Artyom stopped walking. Velvet and Ruby did the same, wanting to know what he had to say. Turns out he had nothing to say. Instead he brought Velvet in for a nice warm hug. It took her surprise but she still accepted it.

''Aw, you guys are so cute together.'' Ruby said, observing the hug. ''The next step is to kiss.'' And that ruined the moment for one of the two Stalkers. They let go of each other and both smiled. Which was something Artyom rarely found a chance to do.

Velvet reminded Ruby that, ''We're not dating, I already told you that.'' She looked back to Artyom. ''Thanks for that, Artyom. I haven't had a hug since, well since I came to the Metro. But there will be time for more of those later. Come on, let's get you to Miller so you can save your home.''

Artyom felt compelled to make some sort of joke. Not that he was good at making people laugh. ''Yeah, that sounds like the perfect plan. Hopefully wherever we end up next has some type of Store. I'm running low on ammo and they're certainly-''

Feeling a sharp pain run through her head, Velvet grabbed and covered both of her ears. She dropped to her knees and began to groan loudly from all of the pain. She inferred that something shot past one of her ears at a fast velocity. Possibly a bullet.

Wanting to know about her friend's conditions Velvet called out to them. ''Are you guys alright? God, this ringing is unbearable!'' Her only reply was from Ruby, a loud gasp leaving her mouth. That granted Velvet enough strength to stand up.

However it was an action that she immediately regretted. Ruby was fine, just a look of shock and terror upon her face. Artyom on the other hand, was in a very not fine state. The bullet that flew past Velvet's ear landed right next to his heart. In seconds blood was spurting out of his mouth. He landed headfirst on the ground, struggling to even breathe as he did.

Turning around Velvet saw just how much of a bad situation they just found themselves in. The amount of Soldiers in front of them were overwhelming to say the least. Due to their armour it was obvious that they weren't Nazis. They were now dealing with Reds.

''They... broke through... the Frontline.'' Artyom muttered, only being able to taste the blood in his mouth. A few of the Soldiers approached the small group. The weapons they carried frightened both of the girls, looking as though they could blow them to pieces.

One of the Reds, most likely the leader of the group, looked down at Artyom. ''Sorry about that. I was hoping to hit the Mutant. That's not to say I wouldn't have shot you anyway.'' He then looked over to the two young girls. ''Your friend isn't going to get up from that. Don't worry, I won't let him bleed to death. If it wasn't for you guys causing so much noise we would have never made it past the Nazis. Just for that I'll make this quick.''

Running was definitely not an option. Ruby knew that there was no way they could dodge all of the gunfire, and Velvet wasn't about to leave Artyom behind. It became clear that there was no way to get out of the situation.

The man aimed his weapon at the girls and began to press the trigger. But Artyom, using what little strength he had left, prevented him from doing so by plunging his Knife deep into the man's foot, causing him to fall back and onto the ground.

As he did his gun began to fire his gun into the ceiling, causing the other Reds to panic. With an opening now clear the two girls made a move. Using the helmet that fell off of Artyom's head when he was shot, Velvet threw it at one of the Soldier's nose.

Ruby took the leader's gun and used it to crack the skulls of the other Soldiers. She couldn't actually fire it since all of the ammo had been exhausted. There weren't that many Reds that they had to deal with, only ten of them.

So the girls were able to guess that this was just a small scouting group, and that the rest would be coming pretty soon. So when all of the men were just as unconscious as Artyom, they picked him up and began to escape as fast they could.

Hoping that he could hear her, Velvet tried to reassure Artyom that he would make it, ''Don't you worry Artyom. You can't die, you haven't even met Miller yet. You don't want to let Hunter down, do you?'' When she didn't get a response, or even hear Artyom breathing she actually began to sob. ''Please, say something! I promised Khan I'd watch your back. Please, I don't wanta...''

It didn't matter what she even said. Footsteps could be overheard from their position. From how massive they were it was clear they were heading towards their position. Before the group that the girls expected to be Reds reached them one of them was heard saying, ''Ulman, wait up. That was a lot of bullets we heard go off.''


	20. Recovery

**Update: You might be wondering where the next Chapter is. Well I'm afraid it won't be coming for a long time. I just can't find all that much joy with this Story anymore. I wish I would have started things differently. Things that are already in a state too late to change.**

**Will I ever make another Chapter after this one? Maybe. There's a good chance I might pick it up again in a few months. At most you'll all have to wait until next year. Again I'm really sorry for this unfortunate update. My attention will now be focused on my other two Stories. As well as an upcoming one. **

**If you happened to noticed the increase in words, it's because I've been updating the hell out of this Story. This Chapter included. I'll probably keep doing that. Especially to the ones that don't even get over 2,000 words. But aside from that there will be nothing new.**

**A/N: Hey, we've now made it all the way to Chapter 20, I'd say that calls for some level of celebration, right? As a few of you might have noticed, I changed Friendship to Romance. What it implies is hopefully obvious. If not, I haven't been doing a very good job.**

**For now I'm done making Chapters as they are presented in the game. If I keep going down that line, we won't reach Last Light for at least ten more Chapters. Now obviously I'm going to make the beginning of that section start one year after the events of the first game. But I'm also going to be making quite a few changes of my own.**

**But yeah, the most important thing is we're getting some Romance between Artyom and Velvet. And don't worry, I won't rush any of it just so we can get to some sweet intimate scenes. This Story is still rated T anyway.**

**Recovery:**

Blood, by now it was all over the place. It had drenched everyone's clothing, it covered the surrounding floor and managed to find its way onto the walls, and it was even being coughed up by Artyom. The bullet that just barely missed his heart had still taken more out of the young Russian than his companions would have hoped for.

He was currently in the middle of receiving medical attention from one of the Soldiers who not too long ago were thought to be Reds by Velvet and Ruby. As it would turn out they were actually close associates of Miller and were even on their way back to Polis Station.

It was only when they were able to hear the sounds of gunshots and the weeping of Velvet that they decided to take a detour in order to investigate. If they would have been only a few minutes later, Artyom would almost certainly already be dead.

One of the Soldiers in particular, who went by the name Ulman, was in the middle of putting as much pressure as possible on Artyom's wounds. At the same time he was trying to give out instructions to the two other men with him. He also did his best to comfort the young girls.

Violently grabbing and shaking one of the Soldiers situated to the right of him, Ulman started to shout orders at him. ''Just get him some more water will you? And Pavel, where are you with that morphine and those bandages? They shouldn't be that hard to find so hurry your ass up.''

Shifting his head over to the Faunus next to him he did his best to assure her that Artyom would be able to pull through this endeavor. ''He's going to be alright, okay? He has to be. If Hunter really did give him his tags that means Miller must see him as soon as humanly possible.''

Ruby took Velvet by both of her hands. ''See, he's going to be just fine. Just one bullet isn't enough to bring him down.'' She said, comforting Velvet to the best of her ability. ''You shouldn't even be looking at this. Come on, let's go wait over by the cart.''

She attempted to guide her friend away but her grasp on her hands was lost. Velvet had no plans on leaving Artyom's side. From how he handled the Reds that bullied her over her appearance, and how he took care of that Nazi who headbutted her, she knew that he would wait for her as well.

Carefully placing her hands around his head, she slowly pulled off his helmet. When he had been shot by the Red officer, Artyom had also taken a bad fall to his head. How bad that fall really was only became more clear when Velvet noticed that he was bleeding from his head.

Luckily Pavel returned just in time with the needed required supplies. The first thing Ulman did was wrap some of the bandages around Artyom's now obvious head wound. Next he injected a good amount of the morphine into one of his arms.

The last thing was for him to remove the shrapnel logged deep inside of his chest. Which is exactly what Ulman had to do. He didn't even take a second to think over his action before he plunged the pliers and began to fish for the shrapnel. The act almost made Ruby and Velvet throw up.

It took a few minutes of digging around, and by the end Artyom had lost more than a lot of blood. But the Soldiers of the Order had managed to stabilize him the best they possibly could. After wiping the sweat off of his forehead, Ulman congratulated his friends as well as himself.

''A job well done if I do say so myself.'' He said, getting a few frowns from Pavel and the other Soldiers. ''Don't be like that. Our friends here is definitely in dire need of one heck of a tetanus shot. Probably shouldn't have used pliers that haven't even been washed since before the war.''

Just then Artyom began to groan slightly but it quickly turned into him crying out in agonizing pain. Ulman attempted to hold him down by himself but was beginning to become overwhelmed by the young man's surprising strength.

Sharing eye contact with Velvet notified her that he was still in need of assistance. She helped him by holding down Artyom by both of his shoulders. Her added strength proved to be enough in order to pacify and calm him down.

After a few more minutes of intense heavy breathing from him, the Stalker finally managed to fully awake. Seeing his eyes now open, Ulman and Velvet both released their tight hold of him. Slowly with the aid of the two he began to properly sit up.

He was still in a lot of pain, a hell of a lot of pain. It was far worse than when he was struck in the back of the head by one of the Nazis near the Frontline. When Artyom had been receiving medical aid he blacked in and out of consciousness. So he did manage to get the name of one his saviors.

One more quick breath and he attempted to speak with the Spartan about his mission he had been given by Hunter. ''Ulman, right?'' He said, gritting his teeth as he did since it hurt for him to even speak. ''Get me to Polis now. I have to speak to Miller. It's about the-''

But Velvet stopped him from speaking by wrapping her arms around him and giving him a passionate kiss on the cheek. Needless to say it was very surprising to Artyom, and even managed to make him lightly blush. Usually it was the other way around.

There were still quite a lot of tears running down Velvet's face. Some of them were from a few minutes ago, but most of them were new. She began to sob and express how sorry she was that he had been shot in the first place.

''It was my fault wasn't it?'' She asked, putting Artyom in a bit of a confused state. ''I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. If I hadn't stopped us we wouldn't have run into all of those Reds. This isn't the first time you've almost died because of me. You almost got gun downed at the Armory, the same almost happened at the Frontline because I yelled like a complete idiot. It would've been better if you had left me at your Station.''

That marked the end of Velvet's rant on herself. However it wasn't the end of her excessive amount of crying. Artyom used his clothing to wipe away all of the tears. He smiled at who he also considered to be his absolute best friend.

Now having the greater portion of his strength back, Artyom manged to come to a complete stand and helped Velvet do the same. In no way did he agree with the final part of her rant. And he was able to find the right words to tell her why.

''I brought you along for a reason, Velvet.'' He said, making the Faunus's eyes widen. ''I brought you along because of that look of care in your eyes. You looked like someone who would always try their best to do the right thing. Those kind of people are very rare to find in the Metro. As for the times you nearly got me killed, forget about it. Honestly it is way more exciting to be shot at than it is to just pass through security normally. And besides, I couldn't just let that asshole bully my favorite girl with rabbit ears.''

Velvet was given a few seconds to process what Artyom had just said. When she was done processing the information she brought him in for yet another hug. This one lasting even longer than the previous. It was a nice and happy little moment. Unfortunately Ruby had to speak up and make it awkward.

''Alright, now you two just have to kiss again.'' She said, making one of her two Companions frown at her. ''But this time make sure you do it on the lips.'' Velvet began to scold her for making the joke, however Artyom was a little more agreeable with the idea.

After gently caressing her face he slowly brought her in for a kiss. Everyone, including all of the present Spartans, were a little shocked by what they were seeing. Obviously none of them were quite as shocked as the person being kissed was.

But despite this Velvet made no attempt to pull or push away from Artyom. In fact she even began to tighten her grip around the other Stalker. Deciding that children shouldn't be witnessed to this, Ulman used his left hand to cover Ruby's eyes.


End file.
